New Waverley West superburb means a lot more cars for city's worst traffic bottleneck
Winnipeg Free Press
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006
By Mary Agnes Welch
WHYTE RIDGE resident Rick McMillan figures he's spent about 194 days stuck in traffic on Kenaston Boulevard.
That's a rough estimate based on a commute he's made to his office on Notre Dame Avenue almost every day for 19 years. It includes waiting for a total of 245 trains -- "I sort of start phoning people because it gets really boring" -- and unpredictable gridlock that often prolongs his drive home to 45 minutes.
"We've watched Kenaston go from two lanes of nothing to stop-and-go-nowhere," said McMillan, president of the Whyte Ridge Residents' Association. "We've lived the expansion."
McMillan knows it's only going to get worse.
In the next decade, Winnipeg's most annoying thoroughfare will be swarming with more cars from the first phases of the massive Waverley West suburb.
And, though progress has so far been painfully slow, the recently deserted Kapyong Barracks will likely be transformed into a new neighbourhood with shops, offices and hundreds of condos and single-family homes, all equalling more cars on Kenaston. That has commuters and some city councillors calling for a plan to improve one of Winnipeg's most congested north-south routes.
"The city really needs a long-term strategy," McMillan said, "and I haven't seen it."
A traffic study done three years ago by the proponents of Waverley West suggests Kenaston won't need extra lanes for another 20 to 25 years, but city traffic engineers and councillors are skeptical about that timeline.
There are currently no conceptual plans to widen Kenaston through River Heights or through the big-box stores around McGillivray Boulevard. There's no preliminary cost estimates or rough drawings, and the city hasn't begun stockpiling property as it comes up for sale.
That makes Kenaston emblematic of what Coun. Peter De Smedt sees as the city's failure to properly plan for its future traffic and transit needs -- everything from adding turning lanes on Kenaston to extending Chief Peguis Trail through West and North Kildonan.
"The city needs a master transportation plan," De Smedt said. "These are things that should have been planned and codified years ago."
Though Winnipeg has nowhere near the gridlock endured by Toronto and Vancouver drivers, De Smedt believes the city is still about 10 to 15 years behind in planning its roads.
The redevelopment of Kapyong Barracks could kick-start that process, triggering a long-term plan for Kenaston.
The overhaul of the 65-hectare Kapyong site gives the city an opportunity to snag a long swath of land to the west of Kenaston that's now home to a row of A-frame houses known as the permanent married quarters, or PMQs.
In Calgary's Garrison Woods, a former army base that Ottawa successfully transformed into a desirable new residential enclave, the PMQs were actually picked up and moved to new, more neighbourly locations on the site. That could well be an option in Winnipeg, or the PMQs could simply be demolished.
Either way, Coun. Bill Clement said the city is biding its time, waiting for work to begin in earnest on Kapyong's redevelopment plan before formally asking Canada Lands, the federal Crown corporation that controls the old base, to hand over enough acreage to widen Kenaston to six lanes.
Clement said the city may also ask Canada Lands to chip in for the cost of building an extra lane between Taylor and Grant avenues, or for cash to improve intersections.
Then there's Waverley West, the 1,214-hectare suburb that will be bisected by Kenaston Boulevard reincarnated as a true freeway.
Every single-family home produces nearly 10 car trips a day, and Waverley West is expected to generate a whopping 76,280 trips a day once it's complete in 25 years.
The traffic report done by Waverley West's two developers, the province and Ladco, estimated as many as 3,800 cars will leave the suburb in the morning rush hour, representing two to three lanes of traffic. Most cars will end up on Bishop Grandin Boulevard, Waverley Street and Kenaston, which will see a 22 per cent increase in peak traffic volumes.
The report says two more lanes will be needed on Kenaston north of Grant in 25 years. But it's likely the city will be under pressure to widen the road sooner, depending on traffic counts, road construction priorities in other parts of the city and cash flow.
"We currently have an unknown coming at us," said Clement. "There are a number of factors that come into play as to the timing -- housing starts, funding."
Clement and St. Norbert Coun. Justin Swandel said there might also be some higher-priority traffic fixes on the south side that council could favour over the widening of Kenaston.
Those include an underpass at Waverley and Taylor, where trains often stall traffic. And because Pembina Highway will bear the brunt of Waverley West's northbound traffic, Swandel says a fix to the chaotic Jubilee Avenue underpass and Confusion Corner will be his top priorities for major road improvements.
Plans for Kenaston will also probably revive the debate over an inner-city ring road or high-speed freeway. Among drivers, including McMillan, the debate has already begun, prompting routine calls for fewer lights and better merge lanes.
Kenaston will likely be a true expressway through Waverley West, with few access points, no traffic lights and high speeds.
Such an expressway doesn't make sense through River Heights, an older, dense neighbourhood. Imagine turning into a 7-Eleven parking lot from the Perimeter Highway and you'll see why a traditional arterial works better in dense neighbourhoods.
Kids on their way to school and cyclists en route to Assiniboine Park need several safe spots to cross Kenaston. A high-speed expressway would also cut River Heights off from whatever is built at Kapyong, two neighbourhoods that should be integrated. Shoppers also need easy access to the booming mini-mall on Grant Avenue and any future shops at Kapyong.
"You can't have a successful first-class development if people can't get to it," said senior city planner Martin Grady.
Clement, no big fan of newfangled urban planning ideas, says it would be a bad idea to boost speeds and take out traffic lights along Kenaston through River Heights.
In the meantime, while the city begins grappling with the Kenaston conundrum, city traffic engineer Roy Hartman said there's some quick fixes.
The city can expand turning lanes, because turns are what often slows traffic. It can also invest in modern technology to better synchronize traffic lights so they respond better to small changes in rush-hour traffic.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca