Winnipeg | Forks Redevelopment | Parcel 4 - Rail Side Initiative | Proposals

[buzzg]

William between Princess and Isabel has definitely improved over the last few years. Almost all the houses close to Isabel have been gutted and sold or are rentals now. Little Brown Jug will help, decent amount of stores right there. Only issue really is that massive parking lot beside the light store. Unfortunately almost all the RRC staff park there so it's gotta be one of the highest-yielding lots in town. Not going anywhere unless someone ponies up for a parkade.

And not to be a broken record, but yes it's clear we're too spread out downtown. The city needs to grow a pair and say "Hey, these streets are where we want to focus efforts" ... It sucks because Princess and King are the two best candidates to be premier streets, but the city has pretty much decided they are just going to be thoroughfares. They should have proper bike lanes, but the lack of lanes south of Notre Dame (and no plan for more, ever) hurt that.

In terms of crumbling curbs, etc., I actually think they're doing an incredible job and working at a furious pace in Exchange to improve this. Walking around it looks great in most areas, by next year it will all be done. Every street. Then they can move to other parts of downtown.

On that, and the designated focal streets. I also think the city should pony up and make Albert (and Arthur too) a mixed-use pedestrian street already. So much potential, but it's kind of dreary right now. I know that lots of the lack of moving is because of slum landlords, but I think if you "build it first, they [businesses] will come" in this case.

[Urban recluse]

Yes, King could be a very cool street. I saw a pic of angled parking permitted for some event, and that looked neat.

[esquire]

Some of the streets in the SHED like Carlton by the MTS Centre are looking really good these days... it would be nice to see King and Princess get a similar treatment through the Exchange District, with nice plants, street furniture, bike lanes, etc.

[buzzg]

^Agreed. Unfortunately though as I said, the city doesn't want bikes on Donald and Smith, so it's unlikely to happen on King/Princess I'd guess. Only solution maybe (and now that I think of it, a pretty good one) would be to put a 2-way cycle track on the north curb lane of Notre Dame to connect King/Princess to the Fort/Garry lanes.

[Cyro]

Bumped for any new information on progress, planning what have you?

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by esquire

Some of the streets in the SHED like Carlton by the MTS Centre are looking really good these days... it would be nice to see King and Princess get a similar treatment through the Exchange District, with nice plants, street furniture, bike lanes, etc.

There is a bike lane on Princess, always has been.

[buzzg]

The Princess bike lane mysteriously ends at McDermot. And is inexplicably on the left side of the road, unlike almost any others. The McDermot bike lane also ends at Princess, then starts again on the other side of Main, after you've already been sandwiched between a delivery truck and an F150.

[Flatland Metropolis]

Originally Posted by Cyro

Bumped for any new information on progress, planning what have you?

Apparently not, but those bike lanes downtown!

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The Princess bike lane mysteriously ends at McDermot. And is inexplicably on the left side of the road, unlike almost any others. The McDermot bike lane also ends at Princess, then starts again on the other side of Main, after you've already been sandwiched between a delivery truck and an F150.

There is no room for a bike lane in the block closest to Main.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by buzzg

The Princess bike lane mysteriously ends at McDermot.

This could be in part to the old location of the police garage which is just south of there. Going a little further south as you cross Notre Dame and Princess becomes Donald the left parking lane disappears completely and Cumberland merges in causing a risky traffic point even for motorized vehicles. Add in the volume of left and right turns at Ellice from Donald and it is very busy place. I am sure ending the bike lane there is meant to encourage unaware cyclists to take an alternate route.

[bomberjet]

I think the city has a plan to upgrade the McDermot bike lane in the coming 1-2 years. As part of that downtown biking thing they were doing.

[Cyro]

Originally Posted by Flatland Metropolis

Apparently not, but those bike lanes downtown!

Ah yes, the bike lanes.

[optimusREIM]

All bike lanes aside, does anyone have actual news on the project? Anything at least semi tangible, rumour, fake news, wishful thinking or even wild speculation?

[bomberjet]

Sounds like it's slowly moving forward. The Forks is still pushing ahead with the planning part. Not sure what's going on with engaging developers or anything actual construction worthy. There's a lot of moving parts with this one to factor in. Want to get it right the first time. Hopefully. Pretty please.

[buzzg]

They're doing drilling, testing, etc. this year and plan to have shovels in the ground early 2018. Development will start close to the existing core (by Citytv) and slowly expand north over the years. Technically the city still hasn't turned over Parcel 4, that site ls likely 5-10 years out as they want to fill Railside first.

[trueviking]

RFP to developers came out this week.

[trueviking]

Developer RFP's were submitted last week. Apparently a good number were submitted. Can't wait to see what gets selected. Tough choices.

[Urban recluse]

You've seen them?

[bomberjet]

From what I've heard, this should be a good development going ahead. Lots of interest, smaller scale 6 storey buildings make for good chances.

Just need to ensure quality. I picture lots of brick and buildings built to the sidewalk. Hopefully the later prevails. We don't want to end up with another suburban projects wasteland.

[trueviking]

It won't be. They have a pretty strong vision.