Wednesday, August 18, 2004
http://www.weeklies.ca/lance/b.html
Kenaston underpass plans get mixed review
By Jim Timlick
Bob and Elaine Tramley have resigned themselves to the fact life won’t be the same when construction of the Kenaston underpass project begins.
Construction of the first phase of the project – Sterling Lyon Parkway, which will replace a portion of Wilkes Avenue – is slated to begin next month.
The new four-lane roadway will be located about 25 metres north of the Tramley’s Lindenwoods home.
While the couple reluctantly agrees with the need for the underpass, they are hardly looking forward to it.
“When we bought the house Sterling Lyon was already on the map,” said Bob Tramley, who bought the house with his wife nine years ago.
“It’s not a shock now, but we’re certainly not excited about it.”
Tramley and his wife were among about 150 people who attended the second of two open houses for the Kenaston underpass, held last Thursday at Centro Caboto Centre on Wilkes.
City staff were on hand to provide details about the project and answer questions from the general public.
“I think it’s great they have something like this,” Bob Tramley said.
“There’s so many questions to ask,” Elaine Tramley added. “Unless you have this it’s hard to find the answers.”
Randy Fingas, a bridge projects engineer with the City of Winnipeg, said about 450 people attended the two open houses, which were held July 22 and Aug. 12.
Fingas said city staffers received mostly favourable comments from the general public.
“About 90 per cent of them were positive responses,” he said.
“People in the south end of town have been waiting for this project so long. It’s been up and down like a yo-yo. This is kind of a good news story because it shows that the project is once again progressing.”
The final cost of the project will be about $42 million.
The federal and provincial governments are contributing $26 million with the city responsible for the remaining $16 million.
Fingas said that while construction may cause some minor inconveniences to motorists, there shouldn’t be any major disruptions.
Work on Sterling Lyon Parkway is slated to begin next month.
It will replace the portion of Wilkes between Shaftesbury Boulevard and Waverley Street that will disappear when the excavation of Kenaston for the underpass begins. It’s scheduled to be completed by late 2005.
A temporary, four-lane detour road will be built to re-route traffic along Kenaston while the underpass is being built.
As well, train traffic from the CN mainline will be re-routed along a temporary railway line just south of its current location during the excavation.
If all goes according to plan, the underpass could open to traffic as soon as late 2006.
That day won’t come soon enough for Bill and Shirley Rayner.
They have lived in south Tuxedo for more than 20 years and have witnessed countless near accidents at Kenaston and Taylor Avenue during that time.
That’s why they were relieved to learn that plans for the underpass include a left turn lane for northbound traffic on Kenaston to turn left onto Taylor and a left turn signal.
“It’s a really dangerous intersection,” said Shirley Rayner, adding a young driver was nearly killed there a year ago.
“You can’t see someone if they are coming in the opposite direction. You almost have to come out into the traffic.”
Roger Burch, who lives in Whyte Ridge, said that while the underpass will provide some relief for people in the immediate area, it fails to address the traffic concerns of most people in the south end of town.
Burch said he is disappointed that the city continues to ignore the plight of those in the south end who make the daily commute downtown each day.
He said the only downtown route available to people in areas like Lindenwoods and Whyte Ridge is McGillivray Boulevard to Pembina Highway.
That route is usually clogged in rush hour because of the lack of high-speed access, he added.
“This is a localized solution to a localized problem with simply no thought to the picture of city-wide traffic,” Burch said as he toured the open house.
“If you are going to the airport you’re lucky, but if you want to go downtown which is where the bulk of daytime traffic is going it’s not going to help.”
Fingas agreed that the underpass is not going to be a cure for all of the traffic issues in the area.
“It’s not going to solve the traffic congestion on Kenaston Boulevard,” he said. “Kenaston is a busy street and it’s not going to change that at all.
“What it will do is eliminate the unscheduled interruptions by trains crossing where you can’t co-ordinate the signalized intersections.”