Winnipeg Roads & Infrastructure

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^^^while I'm at it, why is there still parking during rush hour on Jubilee? What, are *they* just stupid?

Who are the traffic engineers in this city? Can we file a complaint or make requests?

[Reignman]

Can anybody explain why the newly rebuilt stretch of EB Fermor from Lag east has had the speed limit reduced to 60 km/hr from the previous 90 km even though that section is far safer than it previously was? And yet the WB portion remains at 90 km I am told?

Then the city parks a ghost car on the EB side and nails people who have driven that stretch for years (and are used to 90 km/hr) with huge tickets. I find this to be a cash grab by the city, pure and simple - as I see no valid reason for reducing the speed limit.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

Ditto for Osborne South. It's ridiculous that you can turn left at rush hour on such a busy thoroughfare. Compare that to Academy, which has this traffic control, and of course, is nowhere near as busy.

Exactly. This speaks to the idea the City has not come anywhere near exhausting all of the options to improve rush hour traffic flow (because let's face it, traffic is really only an issue on St. Mary's during morning rush hour - it barely registers during the afternoon rush unlike, say, Osborne). How can they seriously be talking about this project when they haven't even done something so simple and obvious as banning rush hour left turns?

Expropriating a strip of buildings to add a lane here is like demolishing your house because there's a small leak in the roof.

[cllew]

Originally Posted by Reignman

Can anybody explain why the newly rebuilt stretch of EB Fermor from Lag east has had the speed limit reduced to 60 km/hr from the previous 90 km even though that section is far safer than it previously was? And yet the WB portion remains at 90 km I am told?

Then the city parks a ghost car on the EB side and nails people who have driven that stretch for years (and are used to 90 km/hr) with huge tickets. I find this to be a cash grab by the city, pure and simple - as I see no valid reason for reducing the speed limit.

Its still apparently in construction mode hence the reduced speed zone.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by cllew

Its still apparently in construction mode hence the reduced speed zone.

Despite it being safer than it ever was under the old configuration

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by Reignman

Can anybody explain why the newly rebuilt stretch of EB Fermor from Lag east has had the speed limit reduced to 60 km/hr from the previous 90 km even though that section is far safer than it previously was? And yet the WB portion remains at 90 km I am told?

Then the city parks a ghost car on the EB side and nails people who have driven that stretch for years (and are used to 90 km/hr) with huge tickets. I find this to be a cash grab by the city, pure and simple - as I see no valid reason for reducing the speed limit.

Unfinished median and curbs. They determined that if a vehicle went into the median faster than 60 it could be a very serious accident. They still have another layer of asphalt to lay on the eastbound lanes once the curbs are finished.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by Reignman

Can anybody explain why the newly rebuilt stretch of EB Fermor from Lag east has had the speed limit reduced to 60 km/hr from the previous 90 km even though that section is far safer than it previously was? And yet the WB portion remains at 90 km I am told?

Then the city parks a ghost car on the EB side and nails people who have driven that stretch for years (and are used to 90 km/hr) with huge tickets. I find this to be a cash grab by the city, pure and simple - as I see no valid reason for reducing the speed limit.

As previously mentioned, it's because they have yet to build the median curbs.

They also have signs posted stating the general reasons why.

It will go back up to 90 km/h next year. The weather we had in the fall pretty much hampered their plans to finish from what I'm assuming.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by The Jabroni

As previously mentioned, it's because they have yet to build the median curbs.

They also have signs posted stating the general reasons why.

It will go back up to 90 km/h next year. The weather we had in the fall pretty much hampered their plans to finish from what I'm assuming.

It's hard to not be a little cynical on this. The old configuration was as dangerous as it gets just about, and what's there now is waaaay safer. Not to beat the dead horse here but the fact that they're enforcing it is unbelievably disingenuous. Theres no way its about safety. If that were the case the speed limit would have been reduced decades ago.

[Hecate]

There are construction speed traps all over the province. The one on 59 and the floodway bridge is particularly disturbing. There’s no construction going on there and there never was. A semi smashed into the bridge. How is it acceptable to be doubling the fine of speeding tickets in this area? We have some of the highest traffic fines in the country and our useless governments create these “construction zones” and double the revenue. But it’s all for safety. Just like having to slow down to 60 when passing a tow truck or a pulled over cop. Really? I can whip by the cyclist or pedestrian at 100 km, that’s fine, but that pulled over tow truck... better slow down. Stupid laws supported by stupider people.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

It's hard to not be a little cynical on this. The old configuration was as dangerous as it gets just about, and what's there now is waaaay safer. Not to beat the dead horse here but the fact that they're enforcing it is unbelievably disingenuous. Theres no way its about safety. If that were the case the speed limit would have been reduced decades ago.

Maybe I'm being naive about it, but as "harsh" as the reduced speed limit is on that stretch of Fermor, you do have a point.

But let's wait until the spring time. If they keep the speed limit as it is once everything is complete, then we'll raid the Pitchfork Emporium and burn everything down in protest.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by Spocket

I don't know what other cities are planning in their traffic departments. Don't care, either.

This, in my humble opinion, is the single greatest challenge we have in Winnipeg. People here, for whatever reason, actually scoff at the idea of benchmarking and using proven best practices. We never measure up to other cities because we take some weird sick pride in NOT basing our decisions on evidence and knowledge. Instead we embrace ignorance. Folks like Spocket insist we do the opposite of what everyone else does and then we watch everyone else thrive while we fall behind. I don't know if it's anti-intellectualism or what.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by EdwardTH

This, in my humble opinion, is the single greatest challenge we have in Winnipeg. People here, for whatever reason, actually scoff at the idea of benchmarking and using proven best practices. We never measure up to other cities because we take some weird sick pride in NOT basing our decisions on evidence and knowledge. Instead we embrace ignorance. Folks like Spocket insist we do the opposite of what everyone else does and then we watch everyone else thrive while we fall behind. I don't know if it's anti-intellectualism or what.

Successive provincial governments have essentially mandated this practice in all departments.

We've joined this bandwagon away from evidence based approaches which might require some investment and toward "keeping up with the Joneses" in cuts and pointing to programs elsewhere which don't even have outcomes to report or have quite poor outcomes but are cheaper. A lot of what our past two governments are doing in terms of policy are following Nova Scotia and Ontario-led initiatives before it is even known if these policies have been effective. NS and Ontario are likely the two worst governed provinces in the past two decades in terms of government services and finance. There is not much innovation, just hare-brained decision-making based on cutting short-term costs but creating long-term money pits.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by EdwardTH

This, in my humble opinion, is the single greatest challenge we have in Winnipeg. People here, for whatever reason, actually scoff at the idea of benchmarking and using proven best practices. We never measure up to other cities because we take some weird sick pride in NOT basing our decisions on evidence and knowledge. Instead we embrace ignorance. Folks like Spocket insist we do the opposite of what everyone else does and then we watch everyone else thrive while we fall behind. I don't know if it's anti-intellectualism or what.

Winnipeg anti-intellectualism is quite the cult. Been through it 1st hand, and so has most of my family as well. I notice that the smarter someone is, the more likely that Winnipeg shuns them & shuts them out of business... or employment, or other means of survival.

I worked at Stella's before (for example), the smartest usually ended up over-abusing, under-cutting and backstabbing their employees, to the point of forcing them to UNIONIZE... so in general terms, the anti-intellectualism in Winnipeg is not only bad for infrastructure and private-sector employment, but overall, its nearing the level of a cult. And in terms of the consequences it has caused, its been very tragic that Winnipeg had to spend DECADES dealing with a cult of people, that have basically evaporated tons of potentially good developments, concepts and decisions that would've benefitted Winnipeg immensely.

Examples for roads and infrastructure: BRT, LRT, Winnipeg Transit investments, sidewalks and pedestrian infrastructure investment, interchanges, expressways, that hellscape on Empress, downtown trams, MODERN lighting underneath the bridges and underpasses, bike paths, diamond lanes, carpool lanes, NOT waiting 50-60 years to suddenly expand Kenaston...

Winnipeg needs foresight. The "oh shit, XYZ is happening, lets wait until something really bad hapoens and THEN do something!!!" mentality, isn't working. Its like doing the same action, to produce different results... its just not working. Maybe if city workers spent less time at Costco or at the salon, and more time giving a shit about their fellow man?

[ywgwalk]

We're still pretending that there's something that needs fixing on St. Mary's? What exactly is the problem? Presumably some sort of congestion. At what point would it be "solved"? Does all traffic have to be completely free flowing always?

[Winnipegger]

To be fair, for all our talk about "encouraging transit use", a wack-load of buses that service the south-east side of the City to downtown also use St. Mary's and St. Annes. The morning rush hour congestion along St. Mary's that occurs regularly between Carriere Avenue and Tache Avenue (where the bus lane opens up) is not insignificant, perhaps adding an average of 10 minutes each morning with some days being as bad as adding an extra 20 minutes when it's snowing - this affects the bulk of bus commuters from the south east side of the city, not just lone occupant vehicles.

We all know that the next rapid transit line will probably run east and will likely break ground after the heat death of the universe, so a rapid transit line to service the south east is likely supereons away. So if we want to continue to encourage evil suburbanites to take the rush hour bus instead of getting in their car, doing something about the congestion on St. Anne's would be helpful. After all, you are squeezing five lanes of traffic in to two.

Does that warrant tearing apart an entire neighborhood to accommodate an additional diamond lane? Probably not, but we need some sort of solution in this area, I'm just not sure what it is.

[esquire]

^ Super-express buses to the far SE suburbs (Sage Cree, Island Lakes, Royalwood, Southdale, etc.) that don't go down St. Mary's.

[rrskylar]

The city was gung-ho on hacking roundabouts into older residential streets a few years back but a couple near the route I take were even removed recently due to the lack of turning radius for larger vehicles. Question is why aren't they being implemented in newer areas where there is room for them, prime example would be Peguis at Transcona Blvd.

I know roundabouts are all over Europe and there doesn't seem to be a problem with drivers ability to use them and I do know in the US they have been a complete disaster as most there are too dumb to use them!

[esquire]

^ Roundabouts are a good thing and are way underused here, but I have to admit I still don't love the tiny residential ones as the geometry doesn't require people to slow down the way that a proper roundabout does (like the ones in the IKEA parking lot, for instance). Every time I am driving through one of those roundabouts I'm always hoping cars going in a cross-direction slow down.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Roundabouts are a good thing and are way underused here, but I have to admit I still don't love the tiny residential ones as the geometry doesn't require people to slow down the way that a proper roundabout does (like the ones in the IKEA parking lot, for instance). Every time I am driving through one of those roundabouts I'm always hoping cars going in a cross-direction slow down.

I know exactly what you are talking about and feel the same way when I happen to go down a particular street with the tiny roundabouts, in a small car there isn't even a need to slow down. Common sense would have dictated that roundabouts would be a poor choice at those locations but the city was hell bent on hacking them on the advice of some COW planner who saw them in Europe somewhere!

[drew]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Roundabouts are a good thing and are way underused here, but I have to admit I still don't love the tiny residential ones as the geometry doesn't require people to slow down the way that a proper roundabout does (like the ones in the IKEA parking lot, for instance). Every time I am driving through one of those roundabouts I'm always hoping cars going in a cross-direction slow down.

IMO - residential roundabouts should be small enough to allow for an almost unimpeded flow through the intersection.

Basically, if there is no traffic, just slow down slightly and continue on your way.

In Australia, the residential roundabouts were basically a small rounded cone of concrete in the centre of the intersection. You could just about avoid it altogether when driving through.

People knew how to drive through a roundabout in Australia - which is currently the issue here. It will get better with time as people understand who has the right of way. But 4way stops should go the way of the Do-Do.