Winnipeg | Everything Bicycles

[trueviking]

I agree, those are the reasons people bike to bomber games, but i remember during the portage and main thing, all I heard all day long was how expensive and difficult it is to find parking and people regaled me every day with horror stories about being stuck in endless soul-crushing traffic trying to get in and out of downtown....yet taking a bike to work never entered the conversation....but for bomber games those same challenges are happily overcome with a bike.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by trueviking

I agree, those are the reasons people bike to bomber games, but i remember during the portage and main thing, all I heard all day long was how expensive and difficult it is to find parking and people regaled me every day with horror stories about being stuck in endless soul-crushing traffic trying to get in and out of downtown....yet taking a bike to work never entered the conversation....but for bomber games those same challenges are happily overcome with a bike.

Things downtown is missing in that regard:

-convenient traffic separated AT routes (available from some areas but not all)
-lack of appropriate bike storage... the IG Field bike valet is as simple and reliable as it gets, plus it's free. Few people working downtown have anything as good available to them. Bike theft is a serious problem in Winnipeg so this has to be addressed for sure.

[trueviking]

I think most office buildings have bike parking these days, no? I just park mine on the sidewalk. Have never had a problem. Use a U-lock.

I’d definitely like more separated lanes but there’s certainly as many as heading to u of m for most people.

I personally think it’s just societal. People drive to work. That’s how it is.

[3de14eec6a]

The Forks had bike valet in the last few years. Would be nice if more places downtown did as well. Maybe TNS could find a bit of room.

[wags_in_the_peg]

i walked to worked 2x this week, 27 minutes each way, plans to do that 3x week hopefully. on days when i don't have something on after work, then I will continue this. and Yes our parkade has locked bike cage

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by 3de14eec6a

Oh, is this about the section that goes through the bus stop so bikes and pedestrians and people waiting for the bus have a combined 1m of space? VERY sorely needed. To get in place to cross main to the MUP is a big pain for all cyclists.

Yes! and the northwest company should be commended for giving up a sliver of their parking lot for this. that one block may be the busiest chunk of concrete in the city on some warm days.. especially when the river walk is flooded.

[michelleb]

^ Have to wonder if WFH had a softening effect on the decision maker(s) at Northwest finally agreeing to the land sale/transfer. It's been planned for what, 10 years?

[esquire]

There was an interesting news story a few weeks ago that never came up here. Very curious, and another chapter in the ongoing saga of odd public works spending patterns at the City.

Missing: active pathways, millions to pay for them
Frustrated city councillor can’t get answers from public service on approved, paid-for bike, walking lanes that didn’t appear when roads rebuilt
By: Ryan Thorpe | Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 20, 2022

On paper, it seems like a pair of simple projects that could easily be done to move Winnipeg’s active transportation agenda forward.

But like most things in the city, what is budgeted and what actually happens are two different things.

In the case of the bike-lane and multi-use path projects, the cost of which total $2.2 million and were supposed to be completed last year, no one can clearly explain why the work wasn’t done. Or where the money went.

The University Crescent road reconstruction project was launched with Phase 1 of construction beginning in 2021 and Phase 2 scheduled for this year.

City council approved $9.9 million for the project, including $900,000 for a protected bike lane in the first phase, and $1.2 million for active transportation infrastructure in the second.

But there was no bike lane when last year’s construction was completed.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/...-millions-to-pay-for-them-576521722.html

[thebasketballgeek]

Public Works is one of the nastiest groups currently working with the city. It’s apparently an echo chamber of car enthusiasts who don’t want any form of AT infrastructure built. That’s why in polls for road rehabilitation they always prefer the cheaper option for AT and even providing options for no new AT to be built despite all logic pointing to needing them built asap. Even as incompetent as they are hopefully people are deservedly calling them out for the millions of taxpayer dollars they are wasting for essentially doing nothing.

It’s not that they don’t know where the money is going (they are well aware of that) it’s just that they can’t disclose the actual reason to the public without getting serious penalties or a lot of people getting fired. This is not accidental misuse of funds this is deliberately not providing a service that should have been provided once road renewals were complete on University and Keewatin which is a heinous act. I’m tired of seeing Public Works abuse their power and set the city back decades with this nonsense.

[Ando]

Totally agree with you on public works. Ridiculous bunch of medieval trolls. There’s a mayoral election on so good time to raise these issues. Here’s an article on the rising success of Montreal’s bike system, based on building a contiguous system with protected bike lanes.
https://www.iheartradio.ca/as-gas-prices...model-for-rest-of-the-country-1.17931486

[BKB]

On AT paths that have cycling lanes and walking lanes, which side should you roller blade on?

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by BKB

On AT paths that have cycling lanes and walking lanes, which side should you roller blade on?

Ride on Cycling lanes because the walking lanes are solely for pedestrians while the cycling lanes are for all other forms of alternative/active transportation such as scooters and skateboards as well.

[Ando]

Chicago is moving to bike lanes all protected by concrete barriers.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/06/29/...crete-barriers-by-end-of-2023-city-says/

[biguc]

Originally Posted by esquire

There was an interesting news story a few weeks ago that never came up here. Very curious, and another chapter in the ongoing saga of odd public works spending patterns at the City.

Missing: active pathways, millions to pay for them
Frustrated city councillor can’t get answers from public service on approved, paid-for bike, walking lanes that didn’t appear when roads rebuilt
By: Ryan Thorpe | Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 20, 2022



https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/...-millions-to-pay-for-them-576521722.html

These people should be in jail for misappropriating public funds.

[3de14eec6a]

Originally Posted by biguc

These people should be in jail for misappropriating public funds.

I agree. I was livid when I read that article. And I'm the kind of cyclist that often prefers to not use AT/MU paths. But it shows how entrenched the idea of "car first" is in this city (country, continent). I'm glad that MAllard is pushing on them, and I'm glad that he mostly just wants the projects to actually get done. But if it takes firing every last one of them, I'm all for it.

[zalf]

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/bike-tour-of-brent-bellamys-favourite-buildings-tickets-367650902747

On July 27, a completely random local architect will be running a bike tour of Exchange and downtown buildings.

[zalf]

Originally Posted by WinCitySparky

Protected bike lanes coming to Stradbrook and River, about damn time. More talk about the stalled bike/ped bridge connecting Oz to Broadway. I already know Vike will be stoked.

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/city-of-winn...anes-coming-to-osborne-village-1.6024129

Long overdue bicycle connectivity coming to the Village.

[zalf]

Are there any plans for a protected East-West cycleway downtown?

As it currently stands, if you want to safely move along that axis at all, your only option is to go down to Assiniboine. Saint Mary has a non-infrastructure painted bikeway (which I rode today and am glad to have survived), and I have heard plots for the eventual woonerfification of Graham. Does anyone know any concrete plans for the near term?

[thebasketballgeek]

Well technically Bannatyne and McDermot are the east-west cycleways since they connect to HSC. Of course the city also considers Assiniboine as the primary east-west downtown cycleway.

Personally those aren’t good enough. Let’s not beat around the bush and start looking at a bike lane on Portage. God knows it has enough space too have 2-way 3m AT paths on both sides of the road. Extend it all the way to Assiniboia Downs, connect it to Esplanade Riel and with the expected bike lane on Provencher I think the city strikes gold.

[rrskylar]

Gotta love these knucklehead cyclists who actually believe cycle paths should be cleared immediately as soon a a flake of snow hits the ground, all nine of them who use the cycle paths in the winter sure seem to get the media’s ear!