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WFP: Council green-lights lower speed limit on Wellington (Mar27'26)
by Beth McKechnie 27 Mar '26

27 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Council green-lights lower speed limit on Wellington https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/03/27/council-green-lig… WINNIPEG city council has voted to lower the speed limit on a huge section of Wellington Crescent that’s popular with cyclists, but rejected the idea of installing an interim bike lane before a permanent one is built in 2027. The issue has been the focus of intense lobbying by cycling advocates since the death of Rob Jenner in May 2025. He was killed in a hit-and-run while cycling to work. The council chamber gallery was full of attendees wearing red shirts in honour of Jenner. They watched as councillors voted to lower the speed limit to 40 kilometres per hour from 50 km/h. The group was unhappy with the decision to scrap an interim bike lane this summer. “It’s very disingenuous to offer the permanent solution a year from now and then not allow some of the interim things that were very easy to implement right now,” said Marty Donkervoort. City staff had originally recommended installing temporary lanes, but the plan was scrapped by a motion from public works chair Janice Lukes (Waverley West). City staff estimated the temporary lanes would have cost about $400,000 and would have remained in place until permanent infrastructure is built. The motion by Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) for a number of left-turn slip lanes to be blocked from accessing Wellington Crescent was defeated. Several councillors, including Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski), voted against reducing the speed limit on a regional road. “(They are) the roads that really get you quicker to the places you have to be to participate in the economy,” he said. Meantime, council voted to formally ask the province to amend the Highway Traffic Act to allow the city to decrease speed limits on residential streets and minor collector roads. Gillingham said the motion was merely to open the discussion about reducing the speed limit, and nothing would be set in stone. “For some, it may be kind of splitting hairs, but it is important. By voting in favour, the recommendation to send this to the province is not automatically voting for any change in speed limit,” he said. Premier Wab Kinew has said he’s against changing provincial legislation because it would mean every municipality in Manitoba could do the same. The city can currently change speed limits on city streets, but it must be done on a case-by-case basis and the mayor said that would be too costly. “I’m not in favour of going and changing the speed limit now without the change to the Highway Traffic Act. I’m not in favour of spending $10 million-plus and putting signs up on every street that would require (the change),” Gillingham said. nicole.buffie(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: The rush for Wellington bike lanes is misguided (Mar26'26)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Mar '26

26 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. The rush for Wellington bike lanes is misguided JOHN YOUNGMAN https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/26/the-rush-for-… I HAVE lived on or within a block of Wellington Crescent for 35 years. I drive my vehicle on the Crescent almost every day, and cycle regularly on Wellington in the summertime. Not once have I felt unsafe driving or cycling on Wellington. However, that could soon change. The city is voting on whether to approve bike lanes on Wellington Crescent, which would reduce vehicular traffic to one lane each way from Academy to Stradbrook and reduce speeds to 40 km/h. If the botched bike lanes on River and Stradbrook avenues are any indication, drivers on Wellington Crescent are in for a rough ride. The River/Stradbrook bike lanes have resulted in travel lanes so narrow that driving on them means doing everything in your power to avoid colliding with the vehicle next to you. This is not traffic calming. It is engineered danger. It gets worse. The Wellington Crescent bike lane proposal restricts drivers from making left-hand turns onto the Crescent from Dorchester and Gertrude. That means all vehicles that used to be able to access the Crescent directly would now have to cut through adjacent residential neighbourhoods in order to make left-hand turns onto the Crescent via Hugo, McMillan, Lilac, Ruskin, Palk and Kingsway — streets that lack cycling infrastructure and are ill-equipped for increased traffic volumes. Rather than improving safety, the proposed bike plan simply offloads the safety risk from Wellington Crescent onto adjacent neighbourhoods. While bike lobbyists are quick to demand things like bike lanes, reduced speeds and turning restrictions, they are silent when it comes to the downstream dangers these measures impose on nearby residential communities. In their support of bike lanes on the crescent, bike lobbyists have repeatedly invoked the death of a cyclist who was tragically killed in 2024 by an SUV travelling 159 km/h. The sad reality is that no bike lane can protect a cyclist from a maniac driving at extreme speeds. And if the dinky physical barriers (low curbs, really) on the River/Stradbrook bike lanes are any indication of what is in store for the crescent, they wouldn’t even protect a cyclist from a vehicle going the legal speed limit. This calls into question whether the push for bike lanes on the crescent is really about safety at all, or merely reactive. Coun. Russ Wyatt hit the nail on the head when he said the city would be “jumping the queue” by approving the Wellington Crescent bike lanes. In a city with limited resources, moving the Wellington Crescent bike lanes to the front of the line means other deserving active transportation projects already in the works — many designed to improve cyclist safety — would have to be delayed or scrapped altogether. That is not leadership. That is pandering to the squeaky wheel. There are other ways to make Wellington Crescent safer for cyclists without eliminating two lanes of vehicular traffic. The stretch of the crescent under consideration for bike lanes is blessed with wide boulevards on both sides. There is no reason bike lanes could not be located there, parallel to the sidewalks. It would be far less expensive and pose no disruption whatsoever to vehicular traffic. Nor would it rely on physical barriers to keep cyclists safe from traffic. Allowing left-hand turns from Grosvenor onto Wellington Crescent would also go a long way toward alleviating unsafe levels of vehicular traffic on nearby residential streets. As citizens, we should not have to tolerate poorly conceived bike lanes that fail to adequately protect cyclists, make roads more dangerous for drivers and offload arterial traffic onto unsuspecting residential communities. Expanding cycling infrastructure that actually makes streets safer for cyclists is an important goal as we move forward as a city. However, we should let sound planning, data and due process tell us where and when bike lanes should be located, not special interest groups. John Youngman has lived, walked, driven and cycled on and around Wellington Crescent for 35 years.

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WFP OpEd: Counterpoint: the new transit system is good (Mar26'26)
by Beth McKechnie 26 Mar '26

26 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Counterpoint: the new transit system is good JOE KORNELSEN https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/26/counterpoint-… WINNIPEG’S new transit network is actually good. It might surprise people to hear it, but the more you ride it, the more sense it makes. The old network was a cobbled-together hodgepodge of legacy routes trying to accommodate city growth by appending ever more weird routes into a system built for the city we were decades ago. Riders can remember many of these: the spaghetti-shaped No. 77 or the old No. 16 with its three radically different southern branches and the No. 29, which sometimes went southbound from the Health Sciences Centre to Pembina and sometimes southbound to… city hall. Most of us who ride had learned to live with and even thrive amid these absurdities. But they were absurdities. These routes were trying to adapt a system serving a city the size of Regina as it grew by hundreds of thousands to become the city we live in today. Those routes would have made even less sense as we grow to the size of Vancouver. Anyone who has taken transit in Vancouver, Toronto or any large city knows transit works best when the lines are easy to understand, when the service arrives often and when the system allows you to do most trips — not just commuting. The new system is getting us to that style of service with straighter rationalized routes that will make more diverse trips possible. There have been some complaints about the new network. There are new inconveniences. But there are a great many improvements that more than balance those — it just takes time to realize those as riders try new trips. Many routes have broken though barriers that the old network produced through arbitrary deviations or due to the exclusive commuter focus of the old network. The new F7 better connects St. Vital to St. Boniface by following St. Anne’s and then Des Meurons. The new F8 produces an easily understandable straight-line route connecting north and south Winnipeg following Henderson and Pembina and, even better, it deviates a couple blocks off Main Street in downtown, prioritizing a much more pedestrian-friendly part of the core districts. The new F6 has broken the old barrier at Portage where Osborne flowed up to eventually become Isabel and Salter. Where once all Osborne routes deviated in behind The Bay, they now follow a straight north-south line right along the west side of downtown. These are big barriers broken for riders. There have been other changes that are bringing major value for some of Winnipeg’s strategic priorities. The new D12 and D13 routes connect our airport directly to the Forks and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Bringing tourists directly to the destinations we’re most proud of immediately upon arriving makes a lot of sense. Another city priority has been having more people live downtown. Transit and high-density central living go hand-in-hand. One major network improvement supporting that objective is the new D14 and D15 routes, which have significantly improved service on Broadway. The D14 even travels a portion of Erin and Wall Streets — a major central area of both commercial and manufacturing jobs. These changes are extremely positive. Of course, there is more to do. But the thing to do is not network-related, it’s service-related — the system needs higher frequency service to meet its full potential. The city has done a significant amount to create the network and fund it with the resources at its disposal. Now one must ask, where is the province? About 10 years ago, the previous government ended a funding agreement that matched operating funding dollars for any municipality running a transit service. Those operating dollars are critical to having buses arrive at your stop often. The current provincial government has a tremendous opportunity to create world-class transit in Winnipeg virtually overnight by reintroducing this 50-50 funding agreement. This would go a long way to creating truly frequent service on the new network. The benefits are obvious. The entire world is staring down a potential energy crisis that demands all governments look for ways to support transportation opportunities less exposed to fuel prices. Further, it only takes a casual look around the continent to see that the biggest urban economies all have great transit systems with high ridership. We need that kind of dedication to our transit network to move workers, residents and visitors efficiently on our infrastructure as we grow to a million people and make our city competitive on the world stage. The City of Winnipeg has gone boldly where we needed to as we grow to a million people. The new network has been a positive improvement both for Winnipeggers today and for the future. It has its kinks, but all major changes will have those. All that’s needed now is the provincial backing to make it as convenient to use as the major systems many of us know and love in the economic powerhouse cities around the continent. Joe Kornelsen was a founder of Functional Transit Winnipeg and has advocated for higher frequency transit service since 2014.

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WFP OpEd: Seniors and families deserve better (Mar25'26)
by Beth McKechnie 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Seniors and families deserve better MICHAEL ABON https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/25/seniors-and-f… “WE’RE making these decisions not for the 60, 70-year-olds. No disrespect, because a lot of them do use these facilities, but we’re trying to make the decisions what infrastructure is needed for the 30-year-olds, the 25-year-olds, and that future generation.” That was Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham at the executive policy committee on March 17, defending the decision to cancel the Wellington Crescent bike lane pilot project. My parents downsized to a condo on Wellington Crescent. My wife, our three-year-old daughter, and I walk or bike along Wellington Crescent to visit them at least once a week… or we used to. Since a driver going, at minimum, 159 km/h killed Rob Jenner on this street nearly two years ago, we take a longer route to avoid Wellington entirely. We shouldn’t have to be afraid just to visit my parents. Our daughter is learning to cross streets. We teach her to look left and right. But she’s three. She can’t judge the speed of a car. She’s too short to see around parked vehicles; she has to step into the lane just to know if anything is coming. She’s starting to ride her own bicycle, but I’m not going to let her ride to grandma and grandpa’s. Not on this street. When we do walk there, cyclists pass us on the sidewalk (technically illegal, but the only option that feels safe for them). I don’t begrudge them that. I wish they had a protected lane on Wellington. Wednesday night, a collision at Wellington Crescent and Hugo Street North (an F-150 and a small sedan, airbags deployed, emergency vehicles on scene) reminded the neighbourhood what’s at stake. That dangerous slip lane would have been closed had the pilot gone ahead on schedule. Instead, it has been delayed for over a year, and council is cancelling it. The mayor said he’s not building for seniors. But this stretch of Wellington between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue is condo after condo. The majority of residents are seniors. They struggle to cross streets engineered for speed, not for the people who live on them. Rob Jenner was 62, exactly the kind of person the mayor dismissed. My parents heard his words. So did their neighbours. And here is the irony: the mayor claims to be building for 25-year-olds, but Canadian adults under 30 are increasingly going without a vehicle, whether by choice or because they’ve been priced out. The infrastructure young people are actually asking for (safe cycling routes, walkable streets, connected transit) is exactly what council is cancelling. The mayor isn’t building for seniors. He isn’t building for families. And he isn’t building for the generation he claims to be championing. So who is he building for? Eighty-three per cent of respondents in the city’s own engagement supported safety improvements on this corridor. One hundred and fifteen community members have taken time away from work to speak at committee meetings about this stretch of road over the past 16 months. The public service recommended the pilot. The equipment sits in a warehouse. In November 2024, Coun. Janice Lukes said the pilot could be in the ground as soon as the snow melts. That was two winters ago. Council votes on whether to cancel it March 26. The mayor said “no disrespect.” Rob Jenner should still be alive. My parents deserve to feel safe on their own street. And my daughter deserves a city that builds for her, not one that can’t decide who it’s building for at all. Michael Abon is an Earl Grey resident and a board director of Bike Winnipeg.

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WFP: Free transit for youth: NDP (Mar24'26)
by Beth McKechnie 24 Mar '26

24 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Free transit for youth: NDP Plan to help students get to school, work in today’s budget https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/03/23/provincial-budget… MANITOBA’S NDP government will make it more affordable for youths as young as 12 to get to school, jobs and activities with free transit passes. The details will be announced in today’s budget. “We have money set aside in the budget to work with municipalities to cover the cost of transit for high school-aged youth,” a spokesperson for the province said Monday. Winnipeg and four other municipalities in the province — Brandon, Selkirk, Flin Flon and Thompson — offer fixed-route public transit. “The rollout and delivery will look different depending on the city,” the spokesperson said. The plan is expected to cost $10 million. A single Winnipeg Transit youth fare — riders 16 and under and high school students 17-21 with a GoCARD and photo ID shown to the driver when boarding — is $2.95 and a monthly bus pass is $88.55. An adult fare is $3.45 and a monthly adult pass is $119.35. Children aged 11 and under are able to ride free when accompanied by a fare-paying customer. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Bram Strain, president and CEO of the Manitoba Business Council and co-chair of the Premier’s Business and Jobs Council’s green committee. “It creates a bus-riding culture for youth, which, hopefully, will continue on as they move into commuting to work. It should help increase the amount of riders, which obviously adds to security — a full bus is a secure bus.” Winnipeg Transit data shows ridership remains below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Strain said he expects the province may announce more funding for transit security in Tuesday’s budget. “I think it will also help youth enter the workforce because it gives them an ability to get to and from their employment with a system that they know, trust and understand,” he said. In January, Manitoba’s youth (aged 15 to 24) unemployment rate was 14.1 per cent, a 2.5 per cent increase from December, the province’s labour force survey said. Strain said he will be watching for an uptick in ridership, workforce participation and school attendance. Fewer cars means less wear and tear on the roads and benefits the environment, he said. Winnipeg School Division superintendent Matt Henderson welcomed the news, which he hopes will make it easier for students to attend class. “One of the obstacles that we constantly hear ... is always around transportation. Transportation is a significant barrier and does contribute to kids missing school,” Henderson said. High schools in the city sometimes provide transit tokens for teens in need, but the economic burden of doing that for every student would be too much for the division to bear, Henderson said. The change will reduce the strain on families, particularly those with multiple children who rely on the transit service, he added. Henderson said he was not aware of the new transit funding before the Free Press contacted him for comment Monday. “If this is the case that the province has put some funds away for this, that would be very much welcome by the division, but also our families,” he said. Providing free transit for youth is timely, University of Winnipeg economics professor Philippe Cyrenne said. “Households are under lots of stress right now. Lots of people are struggling,” Cyrenne said. Families are dealing with rising food costs, Manitoba Hydro rates and education property taxes, he noted. The province has two ways of dealing with affordability challenges — by providing tax relief, usually at the lower end of the income spectrum, or by increasing services, he said. “What would the average person prefer — more money in their pocket, or more services? This government seems interested in providing services and spending,” he said. On Friday, Finance Minister Adrien Sala announced more funding for child care, and Justice Minister Matt Wiebe announced $14 million more for Manitoba Justice correctional services. The province has also pledged more money for cardiac care and affordability measures. Cyrenne said he sees an “intergenerational tension” right now that’s influencing policy. Older, more established Manitobans are on firmer financial ground than younger people struggling with high housing and living costs, trying to gain an economic foothold. “We have to start thinking, how can policy be directed toward helping young people getting started?” said Cyrenne, who considers himself an “older” Manitoban. Helping high school-aged youth with transit may fit the bill, he said. “My sense is probably high school students are still dependent on family.” It’s also a way of helping transit systems that have been underfunded, said Cyrenne. Spending on transit systems isn’t popular with taxpayers who don’t use it and don’t see it as a way to reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gases, he said. “With better transit you take traffic off the road, and it’s better social policy.” Covering transit fares for high school-aged kids comes at a time when Manitoba is projecting a $1.6 billion deficit — more than double what the 2025 budget expected. Premier Wab Kinew has signalled recently that Manitoba’s deficit will be less than $1.6 billion and that the province is on track to balance its books by the next election, due to take place by Oct. 5, 2027. “Presumably their revenues are pretty flat and expenses haven’t been cut. In terms of the projection of a lower deficit — either expenditures are lower or revenues are higher,” Cyrenne said. “Canada’s economy has not grown in any substantive sense. We’re close to — if not in — a recession.” carol.sanders(a)freepress.mb.ca<mailto:carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca>

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WFP: Up to Province for speed change (Mar18'26)
by Beth McKechnie 18 Mar '26

18 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. UP TO PROVINCE FOR SPEED CHANGE https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/03/17/around-city-hall-… A PROPOSAL to reduce Winnipeg’s default driving speed to 40 kilometres per hour from 50 km/h will move forward to a council vote next year, provided the province gets on board. Council’s executive policy committee voted Tuesday in favour of asking the provincial government to change the Highway Traffic Act to give the city the power to change the default speed limit in the city. With that approval, city staff recommend council reduce the default speed limit to 40 km/h for residential streets and “minor collector” streets. The public service will be asked to report back in one year with an update on the request to the province. While the proposal moved forward, councillors were mixed on the possibility of reducing speeds on Winnipeg streets at Tuesday’s meeting. “I don’t believe the province will support this, but prove me wrong,” Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) said.

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WFP OpEd: Putting the cart before the planning horse (Mar18'26)
by Beth McKechnie 18 Mar '26

18 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Putting the cart before the planning horse RICHARD MILGROM, SARAH COOPER AND JOE CURNOW https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/18/putting-the-c… IT is rare to find a planning project in Winnipeg that generates as much passionate support as the proposal for infrastructure improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers on Wellington Crescent. The consistent public participation over the course of the Wellington consultation makes it particularly disappointing to witness committees of city council undervalue public input and ignore the advice of planners in the public service. At the March 4 meeting of the public works committee, the chair, Coun. Janice Lukes, said, “Until you put the bulldozer out on the street, there is so much noise in the world that it is really hard for people to grasp what is going on.” In this, she is right; it is difficult for the city to generate interest and communicate the impacts of changes to the general public. This makes the decision of the committee to move ahead with unrealistic timelines to design and construct the permanent installations, while cancelling the pilot that would have increased awareness, all the more baffling. Lukes introduced the call for “enhanced” awareness as part of the consultation process, but her suggestion that the city post more signs, for example, falls short on any proven enhancement — most people don’t read signs about planning proposals. On the other hand, the pilot project would directly engage road users, and much like Lukes’s bulldozers, make people very aware that something is happening. It would be, by design, an “enhanced” awareness tool. Nevertheless, the committee is unwilling to recommend its implementation. The original report from the public service in the spring of 2025 recommended the installation of the relatively inexpensive temporary project from Academy to Stradbrook. It would address immediate safety concerns and, importantly, allow the city to gather more detailed input about the street’s design from the local community and commuters who use the corridor. Had this recommendation been followed, the city would now be ready to evaluate the performance of the pilot project, and make plans for more permanent changes to the street. But in July 2025, the public works committee, against the advice from planners, instead directed the public service to engage in a consultation process before installing the pilot project. Some argued that the city wouldn’t want to get it wrong and have to rip it out later. The point of a pilot project, though, is that it will be removed or changed — after lessons have been learned from its successes and shortcomings. The relative low cost of a pilot project greatly increases the chance of success for the much more expensive permanent installation — which we truly wouldn’t want to rip out. This atypical pre-pilot consultation process has delayed the possibility of any intervention on Wellington by at least nine months. However, the consultation did gather significant feedback and lead to minor alterations to the design, which the public service brought to this month’s public works meeting. The engagement team gathered feedback based on an online simulation of the proposed installation. The response numbers were strong — there were more than 8,500 visits to the website and almost 2,700 people took the time to respond to the survey. More than 50 per cent of the responses came from people who lived on or near Wellington Crescent. After processing the feedback, active transportation planners have recommended, again, installation of the pilot project. However, members of the public works committee argue there was not enough response to the pilot project survey. For comparison, the immediately adjacent River/Stradbrook bike lanes were installed after 312 survey responses, 29 attendees at an open house, and stakeholder meetings with just four responding property owners out of 104 invited. For the Wellington pilot project, though, nearly nine times that response rate is still deemed insufficient. As city planning and community development researchers, we regularly see what a lay person might interpret as low levels of participation, but in fact the Wellington engagement has been well above the norm of what we would expect, certainly enough to provide valuable input to the public service. We would also expect more and better-informed engagement in response to a pilot project. Simply gathering feedback again, immediately following a consultation where public input was ignored, is unlikely to result in higher levels of engagement. Part of the reason why public engagement often struggles with low participation is that people have lost faith that governments will meaningfully consider their feedback. From a city planning perspective, there is a good tool to enhance awareness — a pilot project. If city council wants to pursue a strategy for Wellington that can engage in robust discussion about what the community wants, the best way to do that is by reinstating the pilot which has taken feedback into account, and not rushing a new round of consultation that they have already undermined. Richard Milgrom and Sarah Cooper are associate professors in the department of city planning at the University of Manitoba. Joe Curnow is an associate professor in the faculty of education at the University of Manitoba.

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The Wolseley Leaf: Why we aren’t getting there… on buses, bikes, or sidewalks
by Beth McKechnie 17 Mar '26

17 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Nice article in The Leaf featuring highlights from the Todd Litman presentation held at The Forks on Feb 25th. https://theleafnews.ca/2026/multimodal-transportation-explained/

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WFP OpEd: Speed limits and safety: follow the science (Mar17'26)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Mar '26

17 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Speed limits and safety: follow the science BRENT BELLAMY https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/16/speed-limits-… THE premier of Manitoba recently appeared hesitant about collaborating with Winnipeg City Council on a public works proposal to lower the city’s default residential speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. Without a provincial amendment to the Highway Traffic Act, the city says implementing the change would require installing signs on hundreds of streets, at a cost of up to $10 million to taxpayers. The province’s apparent reluctance to explore solutions may reflect a desire to avoid a controversial issue. The city’s approach, however, aligns with emerging best practices across Canada, as cities nationwide work to improve road safety and neighbourhood livability. In recent years, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa have reduced residential speed limits to 40 km/h, while Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Victoria have gone even further, lowering them to 30 km/h. As a large, densely populated city, Winnipeg faces unique vehicle safety challenges compared with the rest of Manitoba. Approximately three-quarters of all injury related vehicle collisions in the province occur within Winnipeg, along with nearly 90 per cent of cyclist collisions and around 80 per cent of pedestrian collisions. As a government responsible for representing the needs of Winnipeggers, it’s reasonable to expect the province’s help in addressing these challenges and supporting the implementation of solutions. The city’s recommendation to lower residential speed limits followed the 2023 Reduced-Speed Neighbourhood Pilot, which tested the safety and livability impacts of lower speed limits in selected communities. The study found that drivers already travel well below the 50 km/h limit, averaging about 36 km/h on residential streets. Reducing the posted limit lowered average speeds slightly (other Canadian cities have experienced an average decrease of 3 to 5 km/h) and made drivers significantly more aware of their speed as they approached the maximum, where most collisions occur. The study concluded that lowering residential speed limits could reduce fatal collisions by up to 20 per cent and crashes causing serious injuries by as much as 12 per cent. The study indicated that lower posted limits are most effective when they are part of a broader strategy to improve road safety, one that includes enforcement and, most importantly, physical changes to street design that intuitively slow vehicle speeds and create clearer separation between different types of road users. This largely aligns with the experience of cities across the country. Edmonton lowered residential speed limits to 40 km/h in 2021 as part of Vision Zero, a strategy that aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries by designing transportation systems that anticipate human mistakes and reduces their consequences. Since implementation, the number of pedestrian collisions has declined by about 25 per cent, with injuries and fatalities falling by 30 per cent. When Montreal and Toronto moved from 40 to 30 km/h, they realized a further drop in both metrics by a similar amount. These findings show that even a modest reduction in average speeds on local streets can significantly decrease pedestrian injuries and fatalities. Crash severity is largely determined by vehicle mass and speed, which together dictate the energy released in a collision. A vehicle striking a pedestrian at 40 km/h carries about 35 per cent less impact energy than one at 50 km/h, while at 30 km/h the energy is reduced by 65 per cent. These reductions translate into dramatic improvements in survival rates, with the chance of a pedestrian surviving a collision rising from about 10 per cent at 50 km/h to 60 per cent at 40 km/h and 90 per cent at 30 km/h. The amount of energy in a collision is compounded by the increasing size and weight of the vehicles people are choosing to drive. In Manitoba, the trend to larger trucks and SUV’s has coincided with a 50 per cent increase in collisions resulting in injury over the past decade. Slower speeds also make roads safer by reducing vehicle stopping distances, from an average of 28 metres at 50 km/h to 20 metres at 40 km/h and 13 metres at 30 km/h. This improves the ability of drivers to avoid collisions altogether. The push for slower traffic on residential streets aims not only to improve safety but also to enhance neighbourhood livability. When vehicles travel at lower speeds, residents often report that streets feel quieter and more comfortable, creating spaces where people are more willing to walk, bike or socialize. This strengthens community connections, encourages social interaction and supports local businesses. Such changes are especially meaningful for children, older adults and people with limited mobility, who are far more likely to walk or bike when streets feel safe and inviting. When many people hear proposals to reduce residential speed limits, they imagine crawling around the city at a snail’s pace. However, after experiencing Winnipeg’s pilot project, 60 per cent of surveyed residents supported the lower limits, with 20 per cent even calling for a reduction to 30 km/h. Research in other cities shows a similar pattern. Before implementation, residents tend to greatly overestimate how much time they spend driving on residential streets, and after the changes are made, they typically find the impact on their overall trip time is minimal. It seems illogical that Grant Avenue has the same speed limit as a cul-de-sac where neighbourhood kids play street hockey, or that Route 90 has the same allowable speed as the street at the end of your driveway. Residential streets are where children ride bikes, neighbours walk dogs and communities gather. Lowering speed limits would align Winnipeg with other Canadian cities that recognize this reality. The benefits are clear. What remains is the willingness of the province and city to work together to make Winnipeg’s neighbourhood streets safer and more livable for everyone who uses them. Brent Bellamy is creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.

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WFP OpEd: Safe speeds, big savings: slow pays off (Mar17'26)
by Beth McKechnie 17 Mar '26

17 Mar '26

Caution! This message was sent from outside the University of Manitoba. Safe speeds, big savings: slow pays off IAN WALKER https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/2026/03/17/safe-speeds-b… IN 2019, a group of concerned Winnipeggers came together to form Safe Speeds Winnipeg, a grassroots effort dedicated to making our streets safer by lowering the default speed limit in Winnipeg to 30 km/h. One of our founding members, Dave Elmore, has written recently about how safer speeds make it easier and far more inviting for people, especially children, to move through their neighbourhoods with confidence. As a parent, teacher and community leader, I wholeheartedly agree that getting more kids walking and biking to school is one of the simplest, most meaningful ways we can support their mental and physical well-being. And it isn’t just children who benefit; pedestrian fatality rates rise sharply with age, and seniors 70 and older are the most at risk, underscoring how vital safer speeds are for all members of our community. Last week, the City of Winnipeg released its long-awaited report on lowering speeds in our communities. It recommends establishing a default 40 km/h speed limit wherever no other speed limit is posted. While 40 km/h is still not truly a safe speed for residential streets, it represents an important step in the right direction. Lowering speed limits isn’t just about safety; it is also a significant cost saver for Manitoba’s health-care system. Speed is a major contributor to fatal and serious collisions, each of which places enormous strain on our publicly funded system. Over the past decade, collisions have resulted in thousands of pedestrian injuries and well over a hundred deaths in our province. At the Children’s Hospital, dozens of young pedestrians and cyclists are admitted each year with moderate to severe injuries, all requiring medical attention that our public system must absorb. Preventing even one serious injury or death saves the health-care system hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. In a publicly funded model like ours, preventing trauma is one of the most effective forms of cost control. Simply put, slowing down saves lives and saves Manitoba millions. For the City of Winnipeg, reduced speed limits lead to substantial municipal savings, both direct and indirect. Fewer and less severe crashes mean fewer calls for emergency response, fewer investigations and less demand on city resources that must be deployed every time an incident occurs. Lower speeds also reduce emissions and noise, ease wear on infrastructure and improve neighbourhood livability. Small reductions in vehicle speed can add up across a large city such as Winnipeg, extending the lifespan of roads and reducing maintenance requirements. Lower speeds reduce the force of pothole impacts, helping roads last longer and lowering the city’s maintenance costs. Safer, calmer streets encourage more walking and cycling, which lowers vehicle dependence, supports better health and eases pressure to maintain existing roads and build expensive new ones. In short, lower speeds help make Winnipeg safer, quieter, cleaner and more cost-efficient. Lower speed limits also help individual Winnipeggers save money at a time when transportation costs are rising sharply. Global conflict and supply chain instability have driven up the cost of fuel, leaving many families struggling with unpredictable and often rising energy prices. Slowing down even slightly improves fuel efficiency, meaning drivers spend less each month on gas. Lower speeds also reduce wear and tear on vehicles by easing strain on engines, brakes and suspension systems — an important benefit when the cost of purchasing a vehicle has surged due to global shortages and manufacturing delays. On top of these savings, calmer streets make it easier for people to choose more affordable transportation options. Walking, cycling and transit become more appealing when streets feel safe, and shifting even a portion of household trips away from driving can significantly reduce overall transportation expenses. At a time when the cost of living is climbing, giving people safer alternatives to driving is one of the simplest and most effective ways people can keep more money in their pockets. As this report winds its way through city hall and eventually to our provincial government, we hope decision-makers consider not just the safety benefits, but also the economic ones. Lower speed limits protect our most vulnerable road users, but also reduce pressure on our health-care system, cut municipal spending and save families money. As life gets more expensive for everyone, making our streets safer is a cost-effective and commonsense way to support both public wellbeing and the financial health of our province. Sometimes the simplest solutions really do make the biggest difference, and slowing down is one of them. Ian Walker is a parent, a Grade 1 and 2 teacher and a trustee representing Ward 1 of the Louis Riel School Division.

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