The City of Winnipeg has put the brakes on another bike-and-pedestrian project as both of Winnipeg's leading mayoral candidates described the city's $20.4-million active-transportation upgrade as a public-consultation failure.
On Monday afternoon, incumbent Mayor Sam Katz told reporters he wants to halt construction on the $250,000 Bannatyne-McDermot bikeway, one of 36 active-transportation projects the city planned to conduct this year with the help of federal and provincial infrastructure money.
Hours later, the city placed the project on hold, citing the need to conduct more talks with residents and businesses along the route, which runs from Waterfront Drive to Sherbrook Street.
"During projects such as this, sometimes dialogue with the community results in improvements to the project through design change," city spokesman Steve West said in a statement. "With regard to the McDermot Bikeway, we have concluded that more dialogue will be beneficial."
The move comes as another blow to an active-transportation project all three levels of government have hailed as a long overdue upgrade to the city's network of bike-and-pedestrian corridors. The $20.4 million in spending represents nearly an eight-fold increase over the $2.6 million the city typically spends every year to build recreational and commuter cycling routes as well as other pathways.
Several of the projects have angered residents and businesses, who claim the city failed to consult with them properly about the changes.
A $1-million bridge planned for Omand Park was struck from the project list this spring. At the end of the summer, six Broadway-Assiniboine businesses sued the city over the $125,000 Assiniboine Bikeway.
Work on the Assiniboine Avenue project continues, but the Bannatyne-McDermot project has now been shelved, leading Katz to criticize city staff about the project for the fourth time in six days.
"This city does not have to go the extra mile. It has to go the extra 10 miles in consultation," Katz told reporters after a mayoral-candidate forum at the Fort Garry Hotel. "When anything like this happens in the future, you will see consultation above and beyond."
Katz told reporters he did not personally vote in favour of the projects, which he said were approved by community committees. In fact, the mayor and 12 out of 15 councillors approved the active-transportation upgrade on Dec. 15, 2009, when council approved the 2010 capital budget.
And the project details merely came before community committees as information. Only the capital budget provides authority for the spending.
In a scrum with reporters, Katz accepted responsibility. "I am the mayor. No matter where you draw the line, the buck ends up at my table," he said.
Mayoral challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis said Katz should also halt the Assiniboine Bikeway if he's serious about public consultation.
"It's a little late in the game, in an election period, saying he's going to halt construction," she told reporters. "He's acknowledging he made a strategic error in planning and consulting."
After a round of public-service cuts at the management level in 2009, the city has two senior staffers working on the active-transportation upgrade. Private consultants were also hired to engage in public consultation.
Katz has dismissed suggestions meagre resources are not to blame for the city's performance. He also said tight timelines associated with the federal funding for the active-transportation upgrade are to blame.
The projects must be finished before the end of March to qualify for federal infrastructure money. All but three must be completed before the snow falls because they involve laying concrete.