[0773|=\]

The important thing with freeways in urban areas is not necessarily the 3 hours that they jam up (and they wouldn't even do so THAT much in Winnipeg), but it's that if built selectively (not bisecting old neighbourhoods... probably in Winnipeg's case using ROW near rail yards, where a barrier that Winnipeggers are used to already exists), a freeway can give you 21+ hours/day of time where you can make crosstown trips MUCH quicker than surface routes. Multiply that by even 100,000 trips/day, and you're looking at a significantly more efficient transportation system.

The closest route Winnipeg has right now to that norm is Bishop Grandin, which isn't bad, but when I compare it to the same cross-town trip I make in Edmonton on Whitemud Drive, it's still a significant enough difference that I think Winnipeg should think seriously about doing this.

Make an urban loop freeway of Bishop, Route 90, Chief Peguis, and Lagimodiere, with a few freeway-standard connections to the Perimeter via Waverley, Lag, route 90, Wilkes, etc., and you're laughing.