Winnipeg Construction VIII

[esquire]

Originally Posted by yellowghost

Extra TEN minutes? I would say closer to 20 during peak hours. And don't forget a increase in pedestrian to vehicle accidents..the worst kind.

There are busier intersections in this city and ones with higher pedestrian counts, and somehow things manage to work... I don't get where this notion comes from that the sky will fall if we let pedestrians cross at Portage and Main. Virtually any fast-moving stroad in town would be more dangerous to cross than Portage and Main... I'd sooner cross on foot there than take my chances with Pembina, Henderson or Regent.

[trueviking]

^yeah, i dont get it either...there is a pedestrian crossing every 100m all the way along portage avenue, why all of of sudden at main street would it cause the end of the world?...its not like a single crossing is being put on a freeway.

broadway and main, portage and memorial have similar traffic counts and high pedestrian levels...when's the last time there was a car/pedestrian accident at either location?....does it slow traffic by 20 minutes because people can cross those intersections?

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Andy6

That huge room seems to overwhelm the tiny objects that people are supposed to be looking at. .

thats the point....similar to being in the vastness of the arctic.

[drew]

Originally Posted by yellowghost

Extra TEN minutes? I would say closer to 20 during peak hours. And don't forget a increase in pedestrian to vehicle accidents..the worst kind.

Main Street, which is without a doubt one of the busiest streets in downtown Winnipeg, has manually operated pedestrian cross walks at TWO different locations downtown.

Honestly, if traffic in downtown Winnipeg can live with this ridiculous scenario, having pedestrians cross at regular timed intervals at Portage and Main will be far less disruptive then the steady stream of people crossing (slooooowly) from the Bell Hotel across to the Salvation Army.

[Simplicity]

Originally Posted by trueviking

thats the point....similar to being in the vastness of the arctic.

The WAG can already barely sustain itself. It's constantly hitting up less and less willing donors to fund Stephan Borys' megalomaniacal aspirations. How is building a massive expansion whose purpose it would seem is to be intentionally desolate and inefficient supposed to improve those fortunes?

[TR_Chick]

I agree completely about the pedestrian traffic at Portage and Main. I would say the only case where it may cause issues is if pedestrians are allowed to cross on the North side of the intersection across main considering the heavy volume of left turn traffic. Maybe restrict pedestrians to the east, west and south sides of the intersection? Still gives ample pedestrian access to the various parts of the core area with a slightly lower impact on traffic

Also, I think the fact that the city removed the pedestrian demand signal at Main and St Mary caused more traffic issues than pedestrians at P&M will. NB Main at St Mary used to only get a red light when there was pedestrian request (button), but they removed that button and now the light turns red regularly without any pedestrians there! (there is no other reason for a red there aside from people crossing)

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by drew

Main Street, which is without a doubt one of the busiest streets in downtown Winnipeg, has manually operated pedestrian cross walks at TWO different locations downtown.
.

that's hilarious...I've never thought of that.

maybe that's the answer...a manual crosswalk instead.

[1ajs]

now theres a dumpster and a core certified sign in the window with the contractors name

[1ajs]

[biguc]

Originally Posted by TR_Chick

I agree completely about the pedestrian traffic at Portage and Main. I would say the only case where it may cause issues is if pedestrians are allowed to cross on the North side of the intersection across main considering the heavy volume of left turn traffic. Maybe restrict pedestrians to the east, west and south sides of the intersection? Still gives ample pedestrian access to the various parts of the core area with a slightly lower impact on traffic

As long as people keep talking about scramble crossings--a stupid red herring and a generally terrible idea that makes no sense for the corner--nobody will listen to common sense like this. Opening the east and south corners would not slow traffic at all. A compromise like this would probably satisfy the naysayers who expect mass death and carnage from an open intersection.

At the most basic level, there is no good argument for keeping the corner closed. There are many arguments for opening it, the most compelling being that a closed corner in the middle of downtown is fucking stupid and a goddamn civic embarrassment.


I have a question about the legality of the agreement to keep it closed, though, that I'm hoping some of you might be able to answer. When they closed the corner, trizec was supposed to build this:




Instead, they built this:



Now, I'm no lawyer, but I was pretty good at that Sesame Street game "one of these things is not like the other". In order to get the corner closed, the Trizec block was supposed to be 2 highrises and a midrise between them. Instead they built one highrise and the ugliest piece of shit in the city. Since they clearly didn't live up to their end of the agreement, I don't see how the city has any obligation to keep the corner closed.

[Riverman]

The agreement was with the merchants in the underground mall.

[biguc]

Wasn't it part of the scheme to get trizec built though? In Winnipeg's typically crooked development ways.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by biguc

Wasn't it part of the scheme to get trizec built though? In Winnipeg's typically crooked development ways.

The City got snookered badly in that deal. There was actually a book written about it... The Great Winnipeg Dream, by David Walker. It outlines what happens when local politicians decide they want to play property mogul-developer with public money. To absolutely no one's surprise, Trizec ate the City's lunch... they received a large amount of subsidies and concessions and in the end delivered a fraction of what was initially promised. The politicians were seduced by the glossy renderings.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by esquire

The City got snookered badly in that deal. There was actually a book written about it... The Great Winnipeg Dream, by David Walker. It outlines what happens when local politicians decide they want to play property mogul-developer with public money. To absolutely no one's surprise, Trizec ate the City's lunch... they received a large amount of subsidies and concessions and in the end delivered a fraction of what was initially promised. The politicians were seduced by the glossy renderings.

A pre-photoshop solar flare?! Who wouldn't be seduced?

[factis]

Noticed they were adding a few more sections to the tower crane at CentrePoint today. Perhaps that is a signal that they are getting ready to resume construction on the remaining tower floors that has been shut down for the last couple of months.

[1ajs]

[1ajs]

The convention center has one of the largest crawler cranes in the city on site ready to get a boom attached to it

[Biff]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

now theres a dumpster and a core certified sign in the window with the contractors name

What is the contractors name?

[Biff]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

The convention center has one of the largest crawler cranes in the city on site ready to get a boom attached to it

I believe there should be two of these large cranes set up as they are required to perform tandem lifts to get the enormous roof trusses in place.

[drew]

Originally Posted by Biff

What is the contractors name?

Biff, if even you don't know this information, this project must be a well guarded secret!