No city in Canada has made as many investments in Active Transportation as quickly as the City of Winnipeg. In April 2010, the city announced that it would spend a record $20.4 million to build new bike and pedestrian routes.
Because the majority of the money for these projects came from federal infrastructure funds, the construction needed to be completed this fiscal year.
At the time, the move was widely applauded. However, as the projects went forward, and several streets were changed with new bike lanes and roundabouts, public opposition grew. From its start with affected residents compplaining of insufficient consultation, opposition has exploded to businesses bringing lawsuits against the city and the issue of Active Transportation becoming a major - if not defining - issue of the upcoming municipal election.
Active Transportation - Canada has published a number of the newspaper articles related to this issue, but the number of these exploded in recent weeks as the election approached.So instead, please find a list of many of the recent items that have appeared in Winnipeg papers. Those interested in how their community might respond to rapid improvements in its AT infrastrucutre might benefit from reviewing the Winnipeg example.
We should be clear in our understanding of this issue, with AT we are talking about changing the design and function of our cities. Such change will not occur easily, and without opposition. The current struggles in Winnipeg constitute a valuable lesson for us all in Canada.
I would enjoy hearing comments on this topic from the AT-Canada subscriber community.
5 comments:
Thank you Michael, for bringing the Winnipeg situation to our attention! As noted international active transportation expert, Gil Penalosa points out, "it is not the time for baby steps"... we need to take giant steps forward in developing AT infrastucture. Look at the New York City example.... they are transforming the city quickly. If they can do it in NYC, it can do it anywhere! The key is to start with small pilot projects and build on those successes and to work tirelessly on raising public awareness and to enagage, engage, and engage the public in the process.
I read one article a few days ago on this but didn't realize there were that many.
As ugly as things tend to get in Vancouver, Toronto or Ottawa, that might be the worst I've seen.
Watch the second video (to the right) and see how negative/aggressive the attitude of Wpg motorists are:
It's titled: The Battle of Bike Lanes
http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/10/19/national-threecities.html
The Active Transportation fiasco in Winnipeg is characteristic of how Federal Infrastructure Grants in General are managed by the current Provincial Government in Manitoba. We unfortunately, have a dysfunctional provincial government.
The situation in Winnipeg is a function of dysfunctional provincial government. It is not just AT that can't get out of the ruts, poverty, housing, education, health care, infrastructure in general. The Province has its thumb on the City. They supported and facilitated the lobby group that made alot of critical decisions about where AT would go in Winnipeg. This group worked closely with the city. So the take home message, Cities, don't try to by-pass your constituients.
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