They want to make Osborne a more neighborhood and pedestrian friendly street that has less cars yet on Osborne they still want to have street parking during off peak hours instead of bike lanes???
Oh my god y’all we’re widening the sidewalk by a whole half a metre and added a table in the section drawing to showcase a half-assed patio this is clearly revolutionary design and urban planning. Osborne is gonna be soooooo pedestrian friendly. Ignore the lack of trees it’s not like our second class res… I mean um pedestrians need any sort of shading or weather protection in Winnipeg’s very friendly climate.
As far as I’m concerned this document is pure —. They talk about “reducing parking” and “implementing parking maximums” but then give this joke of a design. Even when I’m gone this damn city gives me a reason to be pissed off smh. I guarantee this will do nothing to curb traffic congestion and the street will remain as unpleasant as ever during rush hours.
Also, using Bloor St as the case study is ridiculous. Bloor has a subway running underneath the street to reduce traffic congestion. I didn’t know Osborne is getting a Subway line as well? The bike lane on Bloor is super uncomfortable to ride on based on personal experience especially with how dangerous the intersections are on Bloor and how narrow the bike lane is because they just can’t help themselves with keeping on-street parking. It is a subpar precedent for Osborne.
Is it really so hard to close Osborne St to cars and just redirect traffic to Pembina, River, and Stradbrook? If it were up to me I’d make Osborne Street pedestrian only from Confusion Corner to Portage Ave. Hell I’d be satisfied if they went the Graham Ave route and made it bus only with an added caveat of unidirectional protected bike lanes. With all the talk about making Osborne more bike friendly you would think that would include adding cycling facilities on the actual street but nope can’t have that in Winnipeg.
Am I asking for too much? I’d like to believe not but damn where’s the public engagement process, or alternative street designs? The city is deliberately only showcasing one design because there’s an agenda to push and it’s sickening. Based on public engagement results on Provencher and Marion it seems they don’t want to make the same “mistake” of letting the actual residents determine what Osborne should look like and want to impose this design in a borderline totalitarian manner. Just like they’ve done with the rehabs on Broadway, Donald, Smith, Roblin, Nairn, and Stafford to name a few. Public Works needs to be audited, but even if there were any findings the cities politicians would be too spineless to do anything about it.
Rant over this city never fails to let me down.