Winnipeg Roads & Infrastructure

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by Bluenote

They need to use concrete period. Asphalt on downtown routes lasts maybe 8 years max. Concrete lasts 20 plus.

Yes but asphalt is only meant to extend the life of those roads. As a cost-savings measure it makes perfect sense.

[BigG]

Worked resumed on the Plessis underpass this week.

[biguc]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Disagree with you on the need for the inner ring road, I believe that it is a priority, there's far too much truck traffic on roads that they have no place being, it's the heavy truck traffic that breaks down city streets a lot faster than they should.

Drove down Main all the way to Chief the other day and can't believe the poor condition of Main from Inkster to Kildonan Park, don't think I ever saw a city street in that need of repair so badly in a dozen former Soviet bloc cities in Eastern Europe!

I agree with you about the trucks, but you've seen how much of a shit fit the trucking industry pitches any time anyone suggests taking away one of their incredibly inappropriate truck routes. Obviously, building roads for those ingrates isn't enough. And it's not like it's on us to pay for building and maintaining train tracks so that train companies can have a free ride.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by biguc

I agree with you about the trucks, but you've seen how much of a shit fit the trucking industry pitches any time anyone suggests taking away one of their incredibly inappropriate truck routes. Obviously, building roads for those ingrates isn't enough. And it's not like it's on us to pay for building and maintaining train tracks so that train companies can have a free ride.

The trucking industry and heavy construction industry with their pitchman seem to pull more clout than they should in this province and city, prime example was the roadways for centreport which never should have been a priority, especially with the build it and hope they come mentality!

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The trucking industry and heavy construction industry with their pitchman seem to pull more clout than they should in this province and city, prime example was the roadways for centreport which never should have been a priority, especially with the build it and hope they come mentality!

That isn't exactly fair to say. Inkster from Route 90 to the Perimeter was a heavily used road and needed to be expanded from two lanes to four lanes regardless of what was being planned for CentrePort. The section of Inkster from Route 90 to Keewatin was similarly twined around the same time, again long overdue. The CentrePort roadwork effectively replaced the section of Inkster that needed twinning and is part of the longer term roadwork in the area that is far overdue in itself including the Headingley bypass, which itself has been on the books for over 20 years. Centreport will then be part of the east-west cooridor that itself has been on the books for 20+ years, will be part of the inner ring road, a project on the books for 50+ years, and eventually feed into the Oak Bank corridor which would effectively replace HWY 15 between the Perimeter and Dugald, a road that has been due for twinning for 30+ years now. But yes, the roads in CentrePort should have never been built...

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by CoryB

That isn't exactly fair to say. Inkster from Route 90 to the Perimeter was a heavily used road and needed to be expanded from two lanes to four lanes regardless of what was being planned for CentrePort. The section of Inkster from Route 90 to Keewatin was similarly twined around the same time, again long overdue. The CentrePort roadwork effectively replaced the section of Inkster that needed twinning and is part of the longer term roadwork in the area that is far overdue in itself including the Headingley bypass, which itself has been on the books for over 20 years. Centreport will then be part of the east-west cooridor that itself has been on the books for 20+ years, will be part of the inner ring road, a project on the books for 50+ years, and eventually feed into the Oak Bank corridor which would effectively replace HWY 15 between the Perimeter and Dugald, a road that has been due for twinning for 30+ years now. But yes, the roads in CentrePort should have never been built...

It gets funnier when they say move all the rail tracks outside the city. And then complain about trucks in the city. I guess they think all freight will be sent in by helicopter.....

Remove the tracks and you increase truck traffic 10 fold.

[CoryB]

^^ Well under the CentrePort model the freight does not come by helicopter it does get air dropped into the city by giant cargo jet so you aren't too far off point...

[bomberjet]

I know it's not really a good comparison due to size of City. But I was looking at the map of Chicago yesterday after I checked out the parkade entrance thing. There are so many rail yards and rail corridors snaking through that City it's crazy. here in Winnipeg we're complaining about a few nuisance crossings and the whole thing get's blown to the moon. There's just no real way to relocate every single track outside the City. Cherry pick the easy ones (which MIT is currently working on at least one), get it done. Then we'll see where things can go.

[CoryB]

The reconstruction of the Roblin overpass has started work on the west bound span. The east bound span was fully replaced and new shoring installed in 2015. I would guess the west bound work will be similar.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I know it's not really a good comparison due to size of City. But I was looking at the map of Chicago yesterday after I checked out the parkade entrance thing. There are so many rail yards and rail corridors snaking through that City it's crazy. here in Winnipeg we're complaining about a few nuisance crossings and the whole thing get's blown to the moon. There's just no real way to relocate every single track outside the City. Cherry pick the easy ones (which MIT is currently working on at least one), get it done. Then we'll see where things can go.

No kidding, it doesn't seem like a huge stretch for a city to build underpasses/overpasses over the few main arterial roadways for the fraction of the cost of relocating rail yards. At one time this city had the wherewithal to get things like that done, both Main and Henderson once had underpasses for a rail line now long abandoned.

[bomberjet]

http://www.winnipeg.ca/publicworks/c...mbinaRehab.stm

More info on the Pembina bike lane project. When transitway is completed, there'll be buffered bike lanes from confusion corner to Bishop, and from Bishop to U of M. Not sure what the plan is for the bridge over Bishop. Maybe direct people to the new pedestrian bridge crossing with the transitway, I'm not sure.

[buzzg]

Good to hear. Just makes me a little more annoyed that they spent all that money rehabbing Pembina south of the underpass last year and didn't add the lanes, just to redo them again in probably 2 years. I really like that they finally for the first time considered connections to other bike routes: the path along the RT line connects to the two way lane on NB Pembina and has a dedicated crossing to go SB. Excellent.

I just hope that this time they paint the bike lane green at the bus stop bypasses. That's the one problem with the existing South Pembina lanes... it's obvious to the cyclists that it's the lane, but not really that clear to pedestrians. Paint it green and people won't hang out there.

[bomberjet]

I was in Stanley Park last summer and was walking down by the water. I guess I stopped on the bike path to take a picture and got an earful from a cyclist, including their cute little bell ringing. ding ding!!

[CoryB]

Interesting reading the most dangerous rail crossing in the Winnipeg area as reported by the CBC.

PR207 (just off Dugald Rd) - 29
Fermor - 278
Waverly - 309
Hall Rd (north of Wilkes) - 409
Notre Dame (at Valour Rd) - 477

Not in the top 500 Marion and Archibald.

Interesting that of the 500 rail crossings that are most dangerous in Canada as judged by an independent, non-political view only three are inside the city and only one is on the priority list for grade separation. It is also interesting that the one being addressed jumped ahead of a more dangerous one.

Hopefully this type of information is feed into the analysis on if rail should be relocated out of Winnipeg.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Interesting reading the most dangerous rail crossing in the Winnipeg area as reported by the CBC.

PR207 (just off Dugald Rd) - 29
Fermor - 278
Waverly - 309
Hall Rd (north of Waverly) - 409
Notre Dame (at Valour Rd) - 477

Not in the top 500 Marion and Archibald.

Interesting that of the 500 rail crossings that are most dangerous in Canada as judged by an independent, non-political view only three are inside the city and only one is on the priority list for grade separation. It is also interesting that the one being addressed jumped ahead of a more dangerous one.

Hopefully this type of information is feed into the analysis on if rail should be relocated out of Winnipeg.

That archibald / Marion one is a joke. It's just a political trophy. One that will destroy a neighbourhood and take away a functional park. And no one has accidents there as the trains are so damn slow there and we have a traffic light 100 feet away from it.

I'd rather see one on Fermor or Bishop or even the bloody south perimeter.

[bomberjet]

Hall Rd north of Wilkes I think?? I could see why it's dangerous. 2 track crossing with only cross-bucks. No light, bells, gates. 2 track crossings now require lights, bell and gates no matter where they are, as of last years update to grade crossing standards.

It just shows that all the hype is over nuisance wait times at crossings, as opposed to real safety issues. Yesterday 3 trains crossed at Waverley back to back during the morning rush and everyone was furious haha

Notre Dame at Valour is surprising.

[CoryB]

Notre Dame at Valour is actually not surprising considering the amount of traffic that goes through there. I get hit by both that train and the Waverly train often enough that I remember them. I am surprised to see Notre Dame is significantly more dangerous than any of these other ones.

That said, thanks to the CBC we now have a clear list of priorities for improving rail/road safety inside the Perimeter.

[bomberjet]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...530608?cmp=rss

That's the story. It's people like the lady in the article that get into trouble. She was stopped on the tracks in traffic when the arms came down. You NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, stop on the track. You need to stop prior to the crossing, until it's clear to cross. Glad she's okay, but that's how things happen. The train didn't just leap off the track and hit her.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...530608?cmp=rss

That's the story. It's people like the lady in the article that get into trouble. She was stopped on the tracks in traffic when the arms came down. You NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, stop on the track. You need to stop prior to the crossing, until it's clear to cross. Glad she's okay, but that's how things happen. The train didn't just leap off the track and hit her.

Yeah. It's idiots and bad drivers that are the problem.

[bomberjet]

I see the City has a tender out for asphalt overlay of WB lanes Bishop Grandin from St. Anne's to Boul de la Signeueurueioeriue. You know, a large stretch of roadway that received extensive joint repair and grinding last couple years... Those joint repairs are the stupidist thing they did. Chip out little wedges of concrete and filled it with some type of grout. Repairs are popped out all over the place. They need to do full joint replacements where they actually cut out the full depth concrete, put in new dowels and pour new concrete.

So they're paving over it with asphalt to remedy the situation once again... I would expect further tenders to come out over the next year or two for the rest of Bishop Grandin where similar repairs were done. Ie: almost the whole stretch.