Winnipeg | Osborne Village & Fort Rouge

[zalf]

606 Stradbrook, taken yesterday:

[WinCitySparky]

Nice coming along quick

[zalf]

Yeah, there's visible progress every weekday.

Contrast with 238 Wellington Crescent, which has only barely made it above grade in the year it's been under construction. I do see progress and workers there once in a while, so it's not like the project went bankrupt, but they're taking "slow and steady" to an extreme. No exaggeration, I think the crew only works there once a week for half-days.

[zalf]

Demolition to make way for 530 Stradbrook began today

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by zalf

Demolition to make way for 530 Stradbrook began today

You know for a “upscale” development the lack of windows on the sides of the building look hideous

[eman]

Zoning Discrimination creates needlessly high property values keeping new development out and moving new development to the suburbs.

This article has been buzzing since printed as a way to fight rent seeking. Probably won't work in Canada, but the issue is the real problem.

https://nysba.org/how-the-dormant-co...iscrimination/

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

You know for a “upscale” development the lack of windows on the sides of the building look hideous

Not to mention the loss of a lovely house with great architecture.

[buzzg]

The construction on Donald has resulted in the city removing the crosswalk on the south side of the River & Donald intersection so cars can turn 3 seconds faster. This city is a fucking nightmare sometimes.

[eman]

Originally Posted by eman

Zoning Discrimination creates needlessly high property values keeping new development out and moving new development to the suburbs.

This article has been buzzing since printed as a way to fight rent seeking. Probably won't work in Canada, but the issue is the real problem.

https://nysba.org/how-the-dormant-co...iscrimination/

If you don't understand, Here is Phil Ritz explaining Rent Seeking in less than a minute.

https://www.tiktok.com/@philritz1/vi...82471029704198

Follow Phil Ritz on Instagram or Tiktok. This topic and others related to sustainability he really explains it well

https://www.instagram.com/philritz/

[asher__jo]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The construction on Donald has resulted in the city removing the crosswalk on the south side of the River & Donald intersection so cars can turn 3 seconds faster. This city is a fucking nightmare sometimes.

God is it ever. At least allow for a crosswalk signal that will give left-turn vehicles a red when pressed.

[lbnevs]

I walked by there today and sure enough, still no ped crossing lights on the south side of River crossing Donald.

The city did not have any public consultations because the reconstruction was not meant to change any geometries or routing. So, it seems improper that a pedestrian crossing would have been removed.

I emailed my city counsellor today (copying the contractor and 311) asking that detour signage be put in place immediately and that the pedestrian lights be restored ASAP.

That corner is awful already -- the slip lane on the north side (EB River to NB Donald) is atrocious. I really hope they haven't chosen to make it even worse!

[buzzg]

I watched someone try to cross the road today and look perplexed when they stepped off and almost got hit by a car when they normally would have had a walk signal. Emailed the councillor as well. Encourage others to do the same.

[lbnevs]

Heard from Sherri Rollins this morning. This is not temporary; public works has indeed decided to simply remove the south pedestrian crossing at River and Donald with no consultation from the neighbourhood. She's also dismayed and is working to try and have it fixed.

If others here live in the neighbourhood, it's worth reaching out and sharing your concerns (thanks for doing so @buzzg!)

[plrh]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

I walked by there today and sure enough, still no ped crossing lights on the south side of River crossing Donald.

The city did not have any public consultations because the reconstruction was not meant to change any geometries or routing. So, it seems improper that a pedestrian crossing would have been removed.

I emailed my city counsellor today (copying the contractor and 311) asking that detour signage be put in place immediately and that the pedestrian lights be restored ASAP.

That corner is awful already -- the slip lane on the north side (EB River to NB Donald) is atrocious. I really hope they haven't chosen to make it even worse!

I looked at the drawings and that crosswalk is shown on them, push-button and all. It must have been removed after tender.

[lbnevs]

Heard back from 311. The following comes from AECOM.

"The City of Winnipeg Transportation Division reviewed the operations of the intersection and wanted the south side pedestrian crossing closed because it was a safety concern.

They have been reviewing several locations throughout the city where there is a permissive dual left turn movement across a crosswalk and trying to mitigate them. Ideally a dual permissive left turn would not occur. Ideally (1) the lane designation could be changed so it is only a single permissive left turn lane, (2) the dual left turn could be fully signal protected, or (3) the conflicting crosswalk could be removed. At this location analysis shows the best mitigation measure is to eliminate the south crosswalk as the westbound left turning volumes are very high and the pedestrian volumes on the south crosswalk are fairly low.

The “No Pedestrians” sign would be installed at either side of the closed crosswalk alignment. Additionally, the curb cuts and ramps will be removed so it will not look like there is intended to be a crossing there. This method of indicating that pedestrians aren’t supposed to cross a specific leg of an intersection is used at several locations throughout the city.

This information was provided late in the design stage for the Donald project, but was included in the project due to the safety concerns associated with it.”

311 also provided me with this image, again sent via AECOM, apparently describing the instructions they got from the Transportation Division:

[buzzg]

The transportation division and traffic engineers should not be making these decisions in urban areas. Urban planners should be creating the best possible neighbourhoods, and traffic people then figuring out how to best manage traffic within those confines.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by lbnevs

Heard back from 311. The following comes from AECOM

They aren't wrong you know. Most people crossing Donald there are crossing on the north side and the ones crossing on the south side risk getting run over. A single turn lane would back traffic up over the Norwood Bridge. If the dual left turn was signal protected (maybe my preferred option with a pedestrian activated crossing) you'll end up with pedestrians ignoring it creating an even greater pedestrian risk.

This is an extremely high traffic intersection and the interests of pedestrian safety have to outweigh pedestrian convenience. If you sat there all day you'd find pedestrians crossing on the north side almost every light cycle, but very infrequently on the south side, except maybe some of the panhandlers.

[3de14eec6a]

Originally Posted by Kinguni

the interests of pedestrian safety have to outweigh pedestrian convenience.

This is a really ham handed way of accomplishing that goal. And we all know that the transportation people weight traffic flow above pedestrian safety in this city anyway.

It also means that P&M should never be opened to pedestrians.

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by 3de14eec6a

It also means that P&M should never be opened to pedestrians.

I'm an odd duck in my profession in that I believe Portage and Main should be open to pedestrians, even if just in a limited way. I also believe that no semis should be using downtown as a through route. On Donald at River, I only stated the reasoning, but I also stated my preference. Considering the limited number of pedestrians crossing that way, a pedestrian activating signal would be best, probably with a red light for traffic turning left from River to Donald.

[michelleb]

"This method of indicating that pedestrians aren’t supposed to cross a specific leg of an intersection is used at several locations throughout the city."

Every time I encounter one of these people-hating intersections I wish I could personally get the traffic engineer(s) fired and replaced by someone who actually travels around the city on foot/bike/with a stroller/wheelchair.

This kind of sneaky shit that public works pulls at the last minute without telling anyone is really bad for PR and makes residents feel like they're in an adversarial relationship with their city.