Downtown Winnipeg is about to become a lot more friendly for cyclists, pedestrians, motorists, transit users and patio enthusiasts.
If that sounds like a lot of people to keep happy, welcome to Scott Suderman's world.
Suderman, the city’s transportation facilities planning engineer, was among several city officials meeting and talking with members of the public at a two-hour "pop-up engagement event" at The Forks Thursday to introduce a makeover to Garry Street that aims to have something for everyone.
"This project is really about balancing all the users' needs," Suderman said. "It's important for the city to see everyone's perspective and balance the needs for everyone walking, cycling, driving, taking the bus, the businesses downtown, visitors, the people living there."
The Garry Street makeover is a significant project that includes a three-metre cycling lane, two southbound lanes, a parking lane, a metre-wide curb separating cyclists from traffic, wider sidewalks, street paving, new traffic signals, new underground water mains and more.
"The bicycle lanes will have a raised concrete barrier. It will be about a metre wide and about six inches (15 cm) tall. This option creates the widest physical separation (from traffic) and we heard from the public that was an important consideration," said Suderman. "There will be two travel lanes available full-time for motorists and for emergency vehicle mobility and access. There's also going to be a full-time parking, loading, transit lane and even for seasonal patio opportunities."
The Garry Street design is the result of year-long consultations that started with several options and was chosen because it was deemed the safest for cyclists and it will allow bike travel in both directions. For vehicle traffic, Garry Street is already a one-way street.
The space for the two-way bike lane would be created by removing about 16 per cent of street parking for vehicles on the east side of Garry Street.
The new design, called the Downtown Bike Lane System, will include a separate cycling lane that will be a 1.5-kilometre route that will run from Assiniboine Avenue to Ellice Avenue/Notre Dame Avenue, and then north into the Exchange District along Arthur Street to McDermot Avenue.
Evan Proulx, 26, said cycling is his main mode of transportation and he has felt unsafe at times in downtown traffic so the Garry Street plan is "a good start."
"I think I have just become accustomed to it because I have been cycling downtown so much but there are those times where I would like to be separated (from vehicle traffic) slightly," he said. "In Winnipeg, it's been haphazard to this point."
Proulx said he has cycled in numerous cities in the U.S., such as Portland, Ore., which has a lot of infrastructure dedicated to cycling.
"I'm not sure yet how this connects to other parts of the city, but downtown, this is a good start."
Bruce Quesnel, who lives on Tache Avenue, said now that he is retired he frequently walks or cycles in the downtown area. He said it appears the Garry Street plan could help both pedestrians and cyclists.
"It's good, mostly. It's good that there are separated paths (for cyclists and vehicles) and that's really important for us," said Quesnel, 69. "There's going to be concrete barriers, which will be very good, and this will separate it. It's very important. Right now, only some (cyclists) use the street and the rest use the sidewalk and you don't blame them. They're terrified."
He said the dedicated bike path will encourage him to cycle more through downtown.
The separated bike lane will be extended along Notre Dame Avenue to Adelaide Street. However, the existing bike lane on Fort Street will remain in place after the Garry Street project is completed, Suderman said.
Bike Winnipeg executive director Mark Cohoe told the Free Press in an earlier story that his group would prefer single bike lanes on two one-way streets — one on Fort and one on Garry — and see single-lane vehicle traffic on both those streets. Cohoe said his group is concerned the lanes for cyclists aren't wide enough in the Garry Street plan.
Also at Thursday's event at The Forks, proposed designs were introduced for the West Alexander Cycling Corridor projects, including a protected bike lane in the West Alexander neighbourhood along McDermot Avenue — deemed a natural extension of the Garry corridor – and an enhanced cycling crossing at Assiniboine Avenue at Main Street into The Forks.
Suderman said construction on the upgrade to the signal light at Assiniboine Avenue and Main Street crossing has already begun and is expected to take only a few weeks to complete.
The Garry Street project will begin construction in spring of 2017 but will go on hiatus during the 2017 Canada Summer Games, which are being hosted in Winnipeg from July 28 to Aug. 13, 2017. It is expected the Garry corridor will be completed near the end of the 2018 construction season.
The spring of 2017 is also projected for the start of the West Alexander Cycling Corridor.