City earmarks $15 million for 44 pedestrian, cycling projects

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-hall-has-plans-to-spend-big-on-a...

City hall plans to spend $4.7 million on new pedestrian and cycling paths and sidewalks in 2017, with another $10.8 million on similar projects during the following two years.

Councillors on the public works committee will get their first look at the city’s pedestrian and cycling action plan for 2017 at a meeting Tuesday.

An administrative report from the public works department details 44 projects it wants to undertake over the next three years.

If the committee approves the $4.7 million planned for 2017, the administration wants councillors to give the director of public works the authority to prioritize which projects will be completed in 2017.

The administration has identified 13 projects, with a combined price tag of $67.9 million, that it is proposing be constructed in the years 2019-21, but only if additional funding can be provided by other levels of government.

The cycling and pedestrian paths and corridors were approved by council for a long-term strategy, but council required the public works committee to approve the projects that will be constructed each year after consultations with area councillors.

Public works is proposing for the next three years:

• $2.7 million to install sidewalks in more than a dozen locations

• $5.2 million for bicycle corridors

• $6.5 million on 10 recreational walkways and bicycle paths

• $1.1 million on public education, awareness and promotion projects

The department’s $67.9 million wish list of projects for 2019-2021 includes:

• $31 million on construction of four new pedestrian/cycling bridges: Fort Rouge to McFadyen Park Bridge over the Assiniboine River (2019); Bishop Grandin Greenway over Pembina Highway (2019); Maple Street through-pass of the CPR Mainline (2020); a new crossing over the Seine River (2019)

• $15 million for McDermot/Bannatyne protected bike lane and road renewal (2020)

• $10 million for Ruby/Banning neighbourhood greenway construction and road renewal project (2020)

• $5 million for Chief Peguis Greenway, from Henderson Highway to Main Street, along the Kildonan Settlers Bridge (2020)

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca