Date to reopen intersection up for debate: officials
SENIOR elected and administrative officials at city hall are backing away from a fall of 2019 date to reopen Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians.
Officials repeatedly said Wednesday the time frame in the request for proposal (RFP) released Tuesday is only a “target” and a decision to reopen the iconic intersection to foot traffic still must be taken by city council.
Even Mayor Brian Bowman, who made the issue a campaign promise four years ago and has been an enthusiastic supporter ever since, toned down his rhetoric.
“I’d like it to be open, but I want to make sure we’re doing it in a thoughtful way that considers all the items,” Bowman said during an exchange with reporters. “Despite the fact that, obviously, I would like it opened sooner than later, there is a process and this is part of the council-directed process.
“I think it’s just important to keep in mind that council has not provided that direction to open it to pedestrians yet. This RFP doesn’t change that.”
The RFP, which invites bids for consulting services for the design and Phase 1 construction associated with the intersection reopening, was the talk of the city Wednesday. While council had approved the project at its October 2017 meeting, no dates were given in an administrative report.
The RFP states city hall expects the first barriers to be taken down to allow pedestrians to cross Portage Avenue East, between the Richardson Plaza and the Bank of Montreal, and the city is “targeting completion of construction,” of that portion by the fall of 2019.
The document, or at least its timing, seemed to catch elected officials by surprise. Bowman and other members of his executive policy committee said they weren’t given advance notice the RFP was being posted nor had they viewed the document ahead of time.
“I need to have much more information before I agree to open up Portage and Main, and that’s the information we’re supposed to be getting back from the RFP,” said Coun. John Orlikow, chairman of council’s property and development committee.
“Council is quite clear, before any suggestion of that happening, it has to come back towards council. We have some traffic issues we have to deal with, we have some transit issues to deal with. The RFP report may come back as such but again, council will need that information to make their decision to move forward.”
City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Doug Mc Neil took responsibility for failing to advise council members.
“There’s a lot going on in this city, and we’ve been working on the RFP for some time now,” Mc Neil said. “Maybe (it’s) my fault I didn’t inform council we were releasing the RFP when we did.”
He said there is no significance to the fall 2019 date in the RFP.
“It’s not a hard date, it’s a target and so we’re just following through with council’s direction,” Mc Neil said. “Council’s directions was: ‘Go back, do somemore engineering, get us some cost estimates, bring that information back to us for our approval.’ And that’s what our plan is and that’s what this next stage is.”
Winnipeg appears divided on the issue.
Supporters say removing the barriers is essential to restoring human-scale activity to the area, connecting the various downtown neighbourhoods, and will complement private-sector investments being made by the corner property owners.
Opponents say the move poses a serious safety threat and would worsen downtown traffic flow.
The intersection was closed to pedestrians in 1979, as part of a deal with developers and property owners on its corners to construct an underground shopping concourse. Terms of the deal, which was struck in 1976, stipulated the intersection remain closed to pedestrians and all efforts be made to redirect people to the underground.
However, Bowman has in recent years received the formal support for the project from all the affected property owners.
A year-old traffic study estimated the costs to alter the routes through the intersection and widen sidewalks would cost about $6.13 million. The subsequent consultant work is expected to get a more accurate figure and detail how and when the corners can be opened.
Coun. Jeff Browaty, a staunch opponent of the project, said the revelation of the fall 2019 date and the scope of thework outlined in the RFP warrants the issue going back to council for another vote.
Browaty (North Kildonan) said he questions the direction outlined in the RFP, explaining the traffic study suggested opening the corners in phases would pose a safety hazard.
“Allowing pedestrians to cross one section introduces both confusion for motorists and encourages pedestrians to consider dangerous crossings that are not open,” Browaty said in a statement Wednesday. “Did CAO Doug Mc Neil, the project’s apparent project manager, also a professional engineer, sign off on this RFP, despite these warnings?”
Browaty also said council had agreed last year to improve the underground concourse, and he’s concerned that work won’t happen before the intersection is reopened to pedestrians.
At its meeting Oct. 25, 2017, council approved spending up to $3.5 million on the intersection in 2018. In addition to the $1.5 million for engineering and architectural work, council also approved: $500,000 for new sidewalks, curbs and street trees for the plaza area directly in front of the Richardson Building; and $1.5 million to upgrade the underground concourse underneath the tower at 201 Portage Ave.
Mc Neil said a second RFP, to improve the underground concourse, would be issued shortly.
Council set wheels in motion for historic intersection last fall
CITY hall observers might be surprised to hear some council members express concern over details in a request for proposal seeking a consultant to plan the reopening of Portage and Main to pedestrians.
While the fall 2019 date is new, opening the intersection was never in question following the intense debate and series of 10 votes on a report — all overwhelmingly in favour of the project— on the floor of council last October.
The motion approved by council authorized the reopening of the intersection to pedestrians and instructs the CAO to negotiatewith the property owners the terms of an agreement that would amend or terminate the 40-year-old agreement that led to the construction of the underground concourse and blocked pedestrian access at street level.
While Item 9 of the motion requires the administration to bring a plan back to council before reopening the intersection, councillors were repeatedly told that if they approved the proposal, they would be setting in motion a plan that would lead to the removal of the concrete barriers.
“If the recommendations are approved, a new capital project will be created in the 2018 budget which will provide a commitment to the creation of a vision and the renewal and reopening of the intersection at Portage and Main,” states the first paragraph, on page 12, in the section of the administrative report titled Implications of the Recommendations.
The online link to the debate from the council minutes is available at: //wfp.to/winnipegdmis.
— Aldo Santin