[bodaggin]

An expansion on why a Shared CN/CP South ONLY Rail Bypass is best. Most of the 3 rail lines crossing the North Perimeter are relatively dead lines:

-Stonewall Line: Ends 2.5 miles north of Perimeter at Richardson Elevator. This line has 1 customer only. Does that justify a $100-150m Perimeter overpass over this rail line? Does it justify a CP North bypass here? No IMO.

-McPhillips/Main St Line: This is the busiest of the 3. The biggest customer is the Selkirk Steel Mill. It also extends to the Distillery in Gimli. I couldn't find any other customers by map.

So OK, it's worthwhile bridging the Perimeter over this line. But not building an entire rail bypass to it. The few times it has freight, it can go through the city lines in between LRT.

Wenzel Road Line: Again, only 1 main customer, the Imperial Oil Terminal. A very busy one.

But again, does building a $150m Wenzel/Rail overpass at Perimeter and a potential other one over Hwy 59 make financial sense? Does storing fuel in a residential area, and running fuel trucks up Henderson Hwy make sense?

Maybe it makes more sense (logical + financial) to move the Imperial Terminal to a buffered area with better road access for hauling to gas stations. 3 birds, 1 stone. It certainly doesn't make sense to intersect Hwy 7, Hwy 8, Hwy 59, and require a Red AND floodway bridge AND 3 Perimeter Overpasses for basically 2 rail customers: the Imperial Oil Terminal and the Selkirk Steel Mill. That's insane, we've misplaced our premise.

TLDR: The shared South Bypass makes sense. Also everything is LINKED. The Winnipeg Rail Move. The Perimeter expansion and grade separation. The Arlington Bridge. Rapid Transit. Everything ties together. If silo our vision instead of looking big picture, we overspend and poorly plan.