Where Cumberland Ave Meets Donald St

Donald Street is well-known to Downtown Winnipeg because it goes through the SHED district and past Broadway as well as Osborne Village. In the last few years Donald St has seen sidewalk upgrades South of Stradbrook Ave and around the MTS Centre. Overall most of Donald St is in decent shape but some key spots still need attention. One spot that I’ll be talking about today is where Cumberland Ave converts into Donald St which is just North of Ellice Ave. During busy times vehicle traffic gets congestion from yielding to Donald St traffic and pedestrians.

Line up of Cumberland Ave traffic yielding to merge with Donald St traffic

This part needs improvements not only for pedestrian but also for vehicles. For pedestrians you have a crosswalk that doesn’t have a proper slopes and the roadway is falling apart. It’s set up in an awkward way that people just cross the more direct path through the grass.

Approaching the yield at Donald St

I think if the crosswalk was realign a bit to the North and more direct and if the yield was turn into a duel yield that reduce the amount of inpatient drivers (not that all drivers are, just some are) from waiting in the line up to get on Donald St as well as added a crosswalk to get across Donald St. Hopefully one day this area will get fixed and improved for safer and more appealing intersection.

My design of Cumberland at Donald (using Google Earth): Red lines is  roadway and white lines is sidewalk

Sidewalk Needed for Dussault Ave

In the last few years i’ve been down Dussault Ave in Windsor Park many times and noticed that a sidewalk is needed here. Not only does Dussault Ave has a Church location and halfway is a sidewalk connection from on side of Windsor Park to the other which has a school and community centre along it. Quite enough people walk down this road that people should be separated from vehicle traffic. 

 

Sidewalk Condition of River Road

Today I will be talking about the good and the bad of River Rd which is the Westside of St. Vital. I’m going to start with the good: 2005 the city completed the section of sidewalk north of Parkville Dr to St. Vital Rd.  With this completion of section means the full length of the roadway is now connected one end to the other by sidewalk. River Road is beautify surround by trees like most places in Winnipeg and has nice places to visit such as the the Riel House or St. Vital Park. River Rd is also connected to Bishop Grandin Trail. The bad things I noticed about the sidewalk is only on one side for the most part. This may not be that bad for other roadways but this roadway has driveways with busy traffic and multiple crossing points. If River Road had sidewalks on the both sides would reduce the amount of crossing for people. These are things the city should consider when they decide to build an AT bridge to the U of M (that’s if they decide to connect it to River Rd) in the future.

The 30 Km/h Zone

Back in September the City of Winnipeg lowered the speed limit from 40 km/h to 30 km/h at 171 school zones. This does not include high schools, post secondary schools, or schools that are on arterial roads. Some people may think that lowering the speed limit by 10 km/h is pointless but the truth is it makes a huge difference for the safety of everyone. Why does it make a difference? Well at 45 km/h a pedestrian getting hit has a 50% chance of dying vs 5% chance of dying at 30 km/h. Not only does this save lives but also lowers congestion and lowers sound pollution by 40%. It also allows more judgment time for a pedestrian to cross the street but also for drivers too enter the roadway with more time. This limit of 30 km/h may be something new to Winnipeg but 30 km/h zone first started as pilot project in 1983 at Buxtehude, just southwest of Hamburg, Germany. Back in Canada cities have been 40 km/h speed zones at schools / parks for the past 20 year or so but just started lowering the speed to 30 km/h in the last few years. Still some places don’t have any lowered speed zones. Many places in Europe are past the point of limiting 30 km/h in just school zones. Paris, France started a city-wide 30 km/h limit on all residential streets and people are pushing for this to be the norm in Europe. New York recently implement a citywide lower speed limit but instead of 30 it’s 40 km/h. Keeping the speed at 30 km/h is good in all ways but that isn’t going to stop everyone from speeding. Some people still drive 50 km/h with an extreme case of a Teen caught driving 100 km/h in 30 zone. I’m sure glad I never had to see someone going that fast (besides the fact near an expressway). Preventing speeders may not be easy thing to do but how our streets are designed can make of difference in reducing the amount of speeders. Remember if the signs aren’t posted, just slow down if needed for the people walking nearby and I hope this gives some better perspective of why a lower speed is so important for a more heathy livable City of Winnipeg. … Notes: http://en.30kmh.eu/why-30kmh-20-mph/ http://revolutionflame.com/2014/02/30-kmh-zones-important/ http://www.thestar.com/bigideas/2014/07/02/big_idea_30kmh_speed_limit_to_fight_city_congestion.html

A Meadowood Walk

Many times I have taken a walk down Meadowood Drive to the mall with my grandparents that live at one of the many mid-rise apartments down St. Anne’s Road  and I always see lots of people walking down to the stores by the mall or by the school & community rink close to St. Anne’s Rd. The one thing I notice most is that a sidewalk hasn’t been built on the south side of Meadowood Dr for the most part except the first two blocks and by the mall. After the first couple blocks the sidewalk just ends at an unmarked crosswalk to the north side and a sidewalk that leads through a field to another street somewhere to the south.

Unmarked crosswalk on Meadowood Dr just west of the school nearby

 

Last month I was trying to get on some of the streets on the south side of Meadowood Dr and was very tricky to achieve without worry about cars. It’s tricky because Meadowood Dr has no crosswalks to many of the streets to the south side so if you’re in a wheelchair like me you’ll have to drive your wheelchair on the road about a block or so just to access the street you want to get too.

Meadowood Drive just east of Dakota Street

 

When it comes to connectivity, Meadowood Drive doesn’t just connect Meadowood area together but is also part of an active transportation route/corridor that connects Minnetonka, St. Vital Centre, Royalwood, Island Lakes together(via Riverbend Ave/ Meadowood Dr/John Bruce Rd/Pamela Rd). Linking the missing sidewalk together on the south side will improve Meadowood Dr and will benefit more people than just residents nearby.

Youville Street

Youville Street currently has no sidewalk between Carriere Avenue and the end of Youville. This section is a preferred walking and biking route. The proximity of the river and distance from St. Mary’s Rd makes this route quiet. The amount of motorist is enough that a sidewalk is needed.

Sidewalk Crossing to Nowhere

On a nice mid July day I went for a stroll in St Vital and when I made my way down Pulberry St it was all good because the street was recently redone. But when I got closer to St Michael Rd the sidewalk wasn’t as good of conditions as the redone part of Pulberry.  From St Michael to about a block or two of Pulberry doesn’t have a  sidewalk on the Westside (only has a sidewalk on the Eastside). What doesn’t make sense is you have to cross St Michael on the Westside of Pulberry on a driveway ( that’s the only way for someone in a wheelchair to get across). What the city needs to do is build at least a sidewalk crossing on the Eastside on the other side of St Micheal Road

Eastside Pulberry Street looking toward St Micheal Road

Looking North to Eastside sidewalk of Pulberry Street

Rue des Meurons at Goulet Street

Rue des Meurons at Goulet junction is very busy because Goulet is the main West route into the city and Rue des Meurons connects old St. Vital to old Saint Boniface together. The crosswalks are unacceptable at this location especially the southern crosswalk crossing des Meurons! The Northeast corner is the only good corner. As for the other corners that is not the case but the Southwest and Southeast corner concerns me the most.

Southwest corner

Southeast corner

Luckily traffic wasn’t to bad when went by few days ago!

Sidewalk Construction Under the Fort Garry Bridge

Multi-use pathway to be constructed under the Fort Garry Bridge

Winnipeg, MB – The City of Winnipeg advises citizens that the sidewalk from the south end of Plaza Drive, under the Fort Garry Bridge, to the north end of D’Arcy Drive will be closed for renovations from Friday, July 4, until Wednesday, July 16, 2014. This project is part of the 2013 Active Transportation Action Plan and is funded through the 2013 Active Transportation Corridors program.

The construction will upgrade the existing sidewalk (1.5 metres wide) into a multi-use pathway (3.5 metres wide) to better serve pedestrians and cyclists. The existing sidewalk will be physically closed to pedestrians and cyclists during construction.

http://www.winnipeg.ca/cao/media/news/nr_2014/nr_20140702.stm#2

This is very good news! This section of sidewalk was in need of improvements for awhile now! The existing sidewalk is too narrow for the amount of pedestrians/cyclists using this route during the day and Blue Bomber games. I myself have been down this sidewalk and isn’t in good condition anymore. Keep the improvements going Winnipeg!

Needed Sidewalk for Edgewater Drive

Edgewater Rd is used by lots of pedestrians to access the sidewalk in the middle that connects Vermillion Rd and other Sidewalks that connect others parts of Southdale. Edgewater connects Lakewood Blvd and Beaverhill Blvd together which both have school & park locations. Edgewater is about one kilometre in length and only has 22 Meters of sidewalk and needs to extend the full length. Students are always walk this route to school with cars going by and backing out driveways, which isn’t a good mix. It might help to add a crosswalk at Beaverhill Blvd side of Edgewater for better access.