Portage and Main Proposals ideas

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by The Jabroni

Mix it up with Black and Yellow paint scheme for BLM, and you'd have all the triggered idiots who were pro-closed, wanting to tear those barriers down in no time!

Let's do it!! LET'S GOOOOO!!!!!

Seeing how good that new barrier-free portion of P & M looks, I wouldn't be surprised if the barricades eventually die the "death of a thousand cuts". As I understand it, remedial work needs to be done on the moisture barrier under the other three corners (and, I guess, still under the Richardson Building corner). Add the future need for some rapid transit stops, and at some point I can imagine the barriers simply being gone and the issue just fading away.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by pspeid

Seeing how good that new barrier-free portion of P & M looks, I wouldn't be surprised if the barricades eventually die the "death of a thousand cuts". As I understand it, remedial work needs to be done on the moisture barrier under the other three corners (and, I guess, still under the Richardson Building corner). Add the future need for some rapid transit stops, and at some point I can imagine the barriers simply being gone and the issue just fading away.

That will take too long......I think Jabronis plan of triggering some one to ram the barricades down is better. lol

[joshlemer]

Originally Posted by buzzg

What's with these prickly ramp things?

[joshlemer]

^ couple weeks back

[bussche]

Originally Posted by joshlemer

What's with these prickly ramp things?

The ramps are just decorative parts of the benches. The prickly bits are to stop skateboarders.

When they were building this my first thought was "Is this a level from Tony Hawk Pro Skater?"

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Luisito

That will take too long......I think Jabronis plan of triggering some one to ram the barricades down is better. lol

Works for me!

[buzzg]

Trees planted in the new beds along Main yesterday, really nice to see there's quite a few. Definitely just going to be putting concrete blocks over it like new standard is. Will be interesting to see if they even bother putting planters at the fully open part by the corner.

It's sad/dumb to me that on this busy stretch of Main we can put lots of trees in along the road, yet when Fort was just completely rebuilt it was kept as 4 lanes without a single tree. This city is a joke.

Side note, I reallllly wonder if Richardson has plans to open the tower up more... seems odd to put dozens of benches around the building when nothing opens to it.

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by bussche

The ramps are just decorative parts of the benches. The prickly bits are to stop skateboarders.

When they were building this my first thought was "Is this a level from Tony Hawk Pro Skater?"

This misses the mark entirely as far as good design is concerned. Why make something that looks like a functional ramp, that does not function as a ramp, and that can't be sit on comfortably as a bench due to the slope and the low height from the ground? But oh wait, it looks like a skateboarding set up so lets put some metal blobs to make sure it is 100% nonfunctional. In which case it becomes a sculptural element of the design, which is even worse because it's a concrete ramp with metal blobs and not even attractive or artistic in anyway. Sorry if this is coming across as over-critical but I just don't understand how these designers make it through school with these utterly pointless design projects.

But ya, let's get P&M open already!

[buzzg]

^And the funny part is they didn't put anything bumps on the edges, so they're perfectly designed for grinding.

[Kris22]

^They should have added a contemporary, non-functional staircase to no where on the other end of the bench, then roped it off due to it being unusable and hazardous.

[trueviking]

Apparently the concept for the rapid transit station at Portage and Main is to remove two lanes from Portage East. It might even be closed to vehicle traffic completely. It will be totally above ground. The line on the elevated track behind union station will come back to ground near there. If you look at the sketch of union station it kind of shows something similar.

So. It will definitely be stupid to have the intersection closed with that on one corner. Transit will definitely want it closed though because it will make buses faster. They were opposed to opening it during the vote as you’ll recall. They wanted dozens of new buses and a new building to store them in to compensate for the drastic gridlock they would endure.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by buzzg

It's sad/dumb to me that on this busy stretch of Main we can put lots of trees in along the road, yet when Fort was just completely rebuilt it was kept as 4 lanes without a single tree. This city is a joke.

That's the difference between engineering a street and designing one.

[ue]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Apparently the concept for the rapid transit station at Portage and Main is to remove two lanes from Portage East. It might even be closed to vehicle traffic completely. It will be totally above ground. The line on the elevated track behind union station will come back to ground near there. If you look at the sketch of union station it kind of shows something similar.

So. It will definitely be stupid to have the intersection closed with that on one corner. Transit will definitely want it closed though because it will make buses faster. They were opposed to opening it during the vote as you’ll recall. They wanted dozens of new buses and a new building to store them in to compensate for the drastic gridlock they would endure.

I simply don’t understand the logic of needing Portage and Main closed to pedestrians. Yes, it helps facilitate vehicular traffic I suppose, but Winnipeg isn’t that busy and there are far busier cities with important downtown or other nodal crossings and... pedestrians still cross. Think Yonge-Bloor and Queen-Spadina in Toronto or Broadway-Cambie in Vancouver. Maybe by making it more convenient to walk and make the city more accessible by other means there won’t even be the same vehicular traffic.

I do admit the Portage East elevated station is enticing and more ‘big city’ than I’d expect, but that level of infrastructure really just points to how this should just be built as light rail. Do you know where heading west down Portage or north down Main the RT line is supposed to be at ground level? They could in theory have the elevated crossing continue over the intersection, although that would be a lot messier than just burying it. But it would reduce any potential congestion issues.

Or maybe close Portage & Main to vehicular traffic if they’re on Portage and turning south on Main or on Main northbound and turning left on Portage. Would reduce congestion as that crossing can be done via Broadway.

[Wigglez]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Apparently the concept for the rapid transit station at Portage and Main is to remove two lanes from Portage East. It might even be closed to vehicle traffic completely. It will be totally above ground. The line on the elevated track behind union station will come back to ground near there. If you look at the sketch of union station it kind of shows something similar.

So. It will definitely be stupid to have the intersection closed with that on one corner. Transit will definitely want it closed though because it will make buses faster. They were opposed to opening it during the vote as you’ll recall. They wanted dozens of new buses and a new building to store them in to compensate for the drastic gridlock they would endure.

Oh I very much recall... When their union rep on twitter said they won't be responsible for the people they run over if its opened (this isn't a joke - they actually said they wouldn't be responsible for running down pedestrians in busses if P&M opens - they deleted it soon after but I'll never forget the mindset of our transit)

[trueviking]

Ha! I forgot about that. Oh man.

[GarryEllice]

Originally Posted by ue

I do admit the Portage East elevated station is enticing and more ‘big city’ than I’d expect, but that level of infrastructure really just points to how this should just be built as light rail. Do you know where heading west down Portage or north down Main the RT line is supposed to be at ground level? They could in theory have the elevated crossing continue over the intersection, although that would be a lot messier than just burying it. But it would reduce any potential congestion issues.

I think trueviking meant "above ground" in the sense of "not underground", rather than in the sense of "elevated"?

[EspionNoir]

Originally Posted by Wigglez

Oh I very much recall... When their union rep on twitter said they won't be responsible for the people they run over if its opened (this isn't a joke - they actually said they wouldn't be responsible for running down pedestrians in busses if P&M opens - they deleted it soon after but I'll never forget the mindset of our transit)

Wow, that’s rather...brutal I’d say? I don’t even know the right word to describe it. I guess they are trying to show their commitment to be punctual....? It’s just so shocking. I highly doubt there are legislations or regulations that give them the power to be no responsible for it.

[bomberjet]

People do crazy things. I saw a person get hit at Graham snd Fort last year. They just ran out in front of the bus. Out of nowhere. So I get their point. But ya, pretty dramatic.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by EspionNoir

Wow, that’s rather...brutal I’d say? I don’t even know the right word to describe it. I guess they are trying to show their commitment to be punctual....? It’s just so shocking. I highly doubt there are legislations or regulations that give them the power to be no responsible for it.

I suppose on one level they're just trying to do their jobs... to make sure the buses run on time. But perhaps an organization like Transit with one singular focus shouldn't be allowed to call the shots for something that touches on a lot of different issues, much the same way that we don't let other individual departments call all the shots for all of government.

It seems to me that Portage and Main would be best handled as a planning exercise where all of the needs of the different users such as drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, transit, utilities and businesses are taken into account.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

That's the difference between engineering a street and designing one.

Ya, it's ridiculous that this is happening downtown of all places. It's like how Hydro seems to be in charge of making street light design choices now – hence why on Graham we have the 90s black transit design, mixed with SHED, mixed with now unpainted modular crap at the east end.

I really like the black design, but if we're going to be replacing everything, I wish the polished steel SHED design would be carried throughout Graham. Fort got polished street lights, and one block of Donald... I just don't understand how every "project" in the area ends up looking different.

Originally Posted by trueviking

Apparently the concept for the rapid transit station at Portage and Main is to remove two lanes from Portage East. It might even be closed to vehicle traffic completely. It will be totally above ground. The line on the elevated track behind union station will come back to ground near there. If you look at the sketch of union station it kind of shows something similar.

Can't see it being completely closed with the Fairmont access there...

Originally Posted by ue

I do admit the Portage East elevated station is enticing and more ‘big city’ than I’d expect, but that level of infrastructure really just points to how this should just be built as light rail. Do you know where heading west down Portage or north down Main the RT line is supposed to be at ground level? They could in theory have the elevated crossing continue over the intersection, although that would be a lot messier than just burying it. But it would reduce any potential congestion issues.

It sounds like Portage would be on one side (likely north side) through downtown, then switch to centre median west from around U of W. Main street will be on the east side.