Monthly Archive for July, 2011

A SAFE connection from Winnipeg OVER the north Perimeter Hwy to Birds Hill Provincial Park and the Red River Floodway Trails system is needed and a TREMENDOUS opportunity exists to make this connection!

MEDIA REPORTS on lack of consideration for active transportation in $80million interchange

The Winnipeg Trails Association, in partnership with the Prairie Pathfinders, One Green City and Bike to the Future launched a “Winnipeg to Birds Hill Provincial Park’ active transportation awareness campaign the morning of July 6th, 2011. As part of this awareness campaign, activities and events will continue throughout the upcoming months at various public locations. On July 6th, Winnipeg to Birds Hill information sheets were handed out to over 250 cyclists preparing to cycle to the Folk Festival via the Northeast Pioneers Greenway (Manitoba’s most heavily used trail) OVER the Perimeter Hwy (PTH101), onto the new Red River Floodway trail system and into Birds Hill Provincial Park. The information sheet highlighted:

• the need for a SAFE active transportation connection linking Winnipeg OVER the Perimeter Hwy – to the town of Birds Hill, Birds Hill Provincial Park and the Red River Floodway trails system
• the opportunity to make a SAFE active transportation connection in the $80 M – $100M PTH 59N and the PTH 101 interchange project occurring in the next two years
• the opportunity to link together – SAFELY – the significant millions invested in Winnipeg trails – to the millions in trail development in Birds Hill Provincial Park, the new Hwy 59 cycle ped overpass and the trail system within the Red River Floodway

OPPORTUNITY:

At a recent information session hosted by MMM Group on the $80 M – $100M PTH 59N and the PTH 101 interchange project, MMM Group presented a design that missed – but holds the opportunity to include a SAFE pedestrian and cyclist over the Perimeter just 300 meters west of the interchange. The current design of this interchange completely lacks any SAFE active transportation infrastructure. In this day and age – and with such an intense Provincial and Federal focus on healthy living, it is incomprehensible that $80 M – $100M of public funds will not include an active transportation component – when just 300 meters to the west – an active transportation ped / cycle bridge will enable people to SAFELY cross OVER the north Perimeter.

Our organizations are encouraging people to contact their Provincial leaders express the desire for a SAFE active transportation connection OVER the Perimeter Hwy specifically, a separated pedestrian / cycling bridge as part of the $80 M – $100M PTH 59N and the PTH 101 interchange project. PLEASE EMAIL or PHONE one or ALL of the Provincial Representatives before October 4th.

Ask them to:

“PLEASE SAFELY connect the Northeast Pioneers Greenway OVER the Perimeter Hwy with a separate pedestrian / cyclist bridge to access Birds Hill Provincial Park and the Red River Floodway Trails System, as part of the PTH 59N and the PTH 101 interchange project.”

Premier Greg Selinger          premier@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-3714

Minster Steve Ashton           minmit@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-3723

Minister Ron Lemieux        minlg@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-3788

Minister Bill Blaikie           mincon@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-3730

Minister Flor Marcelino    mincht@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-3729

Minister Jim Rondeau       minhliv@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-1373

Erna Braun
– MLA Rossmere               erna.braun@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-7349

Bonnie Mitchelson
– MLA River East              bonnie.mitchelson@leg.gov.mb.ca 945-0008

Walk this lovely little way (Winnipeg Free Press)Winnipeg’s picturesque parkways city’s best-kept secret. Shhhhhh.It’s Winnipeg’s prettiest little secret, and we wouldn’t want word to get out. It’s not marked on city maps, not even the trail maps. And there’s precious few signs pointing the way. But unbeknownst to most Winnipeggers, there’s a web of six parkways that link park to park to park along the city’s rivers, following quiet streets where necessary, but mainly hugging the riverbanks.

And if you venture just north of the corner of Glenwood Crescent and Harbison Avenue West, you’ll discover perhaps the most picturesque spot of all of Winnipeg’s parkways, Elmwood Park, part of the Kildonan Parkway. “I can’t believe no one, either media or just a person, has asked about this,” said Janice Lukes, manager of special projects with the Winnipeg Trails Association and Rivers West, Red River co-ordinator. “But no one has.”

Many people may be travelling the parkways in bits and pieces but don’t realize they all join up. On a recent sunny day, cyclists were whizzing through Elmwood Park and south along the parkway, while a couple walked two enormous dogs and some would-be explorers checked out two mysterious staircases near the river. The Kildonan Parkway, where it wends through Elmwood, might be the most pleasant of the parkways, given to leisurely meandering, snaking along tree-shaded neighbourhoods and sun-dappled parks by the river.

Janice Lukes,manager of special projects for the Winnipeg Trails Association, strolls in Elmwood Park at the end of Glenwood Crescent. (BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

The parkways all end at The Forks — or start there, depending on how you look at it. The South Winnipeg Parkway runs south of The Forks, west of the Red, and the Boni-Vital Parkway, also running south, is east of the Red. There’s the North Assiniboine Parkway and South Assiniboine Parkway, their directions self-explanatory. The North Winnipeg Parkway runs north of The Forks on the west side of the river, and the Kildonan Parkway runs north on the Red’s east side.

The parkway system was started 20 years ago by a forward-thinking city with a vision to make the most of its rivers, Lukes says. There were 18 smaller trails then, a very confusing labyrinth of paths, but officials organized them into six parkways to keep things simple.

Until trailheads and route maps are placed on the parkways — planned for this fall, along with signs indicating points of interest, a very pleased Lukes reports — bikers, hikers and dog-walkers need to be a little creative to find the parkways in many spots. They are signed, but signs are small and placement is a bit sketchy.

It’s worth seeking the signs because, really, a whole other world within Winnipeg opens up once you set foot or wheel on a parkway.

By Julie Carl, julie.carl@freepress.mb.ca
Winnipeg Free Press, June 28 2011