At the ‘Moving on Marion’ Open House, the consultants for the City of Winnipeg told a lot of lies, sometimes to our faces, sometimes by the slick trick of omission.
One of those tricks- besides lying that the Norwood Grove Biz supported the plan, and pretending they didn’t know the plan would remove 99 parking spaces – was the casual mention that while Council still had to review the feeback from the Open House and approve the scheme, some elements would proceed as part of scheduled road work.
When asked they said ‘oh, like the curbs’.
What they didn’t say, was that the north lane on Goulet, which served as a morning express bus lane, was being taken out- regardless of what Council might decide or the feedback from the stakeholders. A lane was removed, reducing the trucking route to 2 lanes, and an oversized protected bike lane was installed.
This seemed to put St. Boniface Councilor Matt Allard in the position of having lied to his constiutuents. On the Windsor Park Community News Facebook page on June 27,- his last public statement on the issue- he addressed the ‘Moving on Marion’ process:
The next steps would be for the City Council to consider a plan once it is ready. If the plan is approved with the possibility of changes by Council it then gets built either when segments of road are rebuilt or when there is money identified for the project for which there is not at this time.
The result was a summer of total gridlock, as the curve behind the Marion Hotel and the eastbound Goulet route towards downtown was mostly reduced to one lane. A summer of traffic mayhem, delayed ambulances and delivery vehicles, unprecedented St. Boniface Hospital neighborhood snarls, and an ongoing mess of dust debris and dirt.
And now, as winter sets in, taxpayers see they were scammed.
There isn’t a functional bike lane. And there isn’t 2 safe, useable traffic lanes.
Vehicles coming around the bend by the hotel quickly discover the road is rough, uneven – and has a raised tar ridge between the lanes.
And the entry to the Wave car wash? It’s is a disfigured mess.
Now, with lanes that were somehow allowed to be designed to be too narrow for trucks to make the Youville turn westbound off Marion, cyclists are forced to use the road in that same stretch as the bike lane is barricaded. But that’s not all.
This derelict condition is not just at the Youville turn. It extends all the way down to Traverse Avenue, the entire scope of the summer construction project.
After it’s snowed or icy this is now a dangerous roadway. The residents near the hospital – unrepresented by an association – are very concerned and feel they are being taken advantage of by the City.
Was this construction project hurriedly commenced because like the Assiniboine Avenue debacle in 2010, the City bureaucrats needed to meet a funding deadline? City Council had agreed with an auditors report finding in 2012 that such a practice was illegitimate.
Yet here we are again.
ActionLine sent these photos to Coun. Janice Lukes and asked her whether “Public Works has addressed this failed infrastructure with you and provided a timeline for repairs?”
When we get an answer we will let taxpayers know. Rumour has it the entire project will have to be redone.