City homes in on option two for greenway extension

*Addition will connect pedestrians from St. James to Dan Mac *

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/sports/City-homes-in-on-op... *l*

The City of Winnipeg is prioritizing a fasttracked option for the Yellow Ribbon Greenway extension.

On March 6, the CoW hosted a public info session on the YRG at the Bord-Aire Community Centre (417 Hampton St.), which saw a small but engaged turnout. The drop-in event was aimed at providing area residents with probable plans for a pedestrian (cycling and walking) corridor to be added between the existing YRG and St. Matthews Avenue.

Option one is a connected pathway which would take pedestrians northeast off of the existing greenway, just as it dips south to meet Silver Avenue. Option two is a much shorter pathway and would take cyclists and walkers north from the greenway, just before it meets Silver Avenue, to where it would join St. Matthews Avenue.

The budget for option two is $750,000, while the budget for option one, including the construction of a bridge, is $1.3 million. The City’s active transportation co-ordinator Stephanie Whitehouse said most people want to see this connective trail put into place as soon as possible, and the difference for cyclists is only 60 seconds extra time with option two, making it favourable with the community as well.

Whitehouse said while stakeholders and engineers explored a number of options internally, cost and timeline are big factors in why the City is tentatively moving ahead with option two.

“It proved the preferred option because we can roll it out relatively quickly within this year,” Whitehouse said. “Option one wasn’t really within our current budget, so it meant construction would have to happen over a few years.”

The plan looked promising to some residents.

“It’s encouraging,” Westwood resident Paul Gittel said at the event. “If you have more people cycling, you’ll have a healthier population. I don’t cycle in the winter, I cross-country ski, but that adds an option for people who do (cycle).”

Whitehouse said the project will connect two areas of the city that already see a lot of cycling.

“What it’s supporting is, of course, local access to this amazing YRG, but as well, we want to support the commuter movement

towards the downtown, where we’ve got the University of Winnipeg, the downtown core, Polo Park.”

St. Matthews Avenue should also see the completion of buffered bicycle lanes this summer, which Whitehouse says is a “key corridor” towards the downtown.

Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James-Weston-Brooklands) said the extension was a campaign promise that he’s very excited to see through.

“I’m hearing more and more from people that want to cycle, not just for recreation but as a means of commuting to and from work or school, and by providing this pathway, it increases the confidence that cyclists have because a lot of it will separate cyclists from vehicles,” Gillingham said.

“This will connect St. James to the River Heights area and downtown, and it’s a very important project.”

More info and maps can be found at winnipeg. ca/publicworks/pedestrians Cycling/ walkbikeprojects/yellowribbongreenwayextension. stm#tab-documents