Simple advice should guide Portage and Main decisions By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 6, 2018

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This article was published 06/06/2018 (2893 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s an elementary piece of advice every pedestrian should heed, regardless of the size or location of the intersection they’re attempting to cross: look both ways before taking that first step.

And according to Coun. Jeff Browaty, this most fundamental level of caution — encapsulated in the first lesson taught by parents to children before they’re allowed to cross the street — is not being followed by civic politicians and administrators in their haste to reintroduce foot traffic to Winnipeg’s most famous intersection.

Mr. Browaty, who represents North Kildonan, reacted swiftly Wednesday to a report from city hall outlining a plan to reopen part of the intersection of Portage and Main to pedestrians by the fall of 2019. The proposed date is included in a request for proposal issued by the city, seeking consulting services for design and construction associated with the first phase of the reopening.

Phase 1, according to the document, would involve removing barriers and allowing pedestrians to cross Portage Avenue East, between the Richardson Plaza and the Bank of Montreal.

According to Mr. Browaty, a move to open only part of the intersection runs counter to the advice contained in the much-discussed Dillon Consulting report on reopening Portage and Main.

“Allowing pedestrians to cross one section introduces both confusion for motorists and encourages pedestrians to consider dangerous crossings that are not open,” the councillor said in a written statement issued Wednesday. “Did CAO Doug McNeil, the project’s apparent project manager, also a professional engineer, sign off on this RFP, despite these warnings?”

Mr. Browaty also called for the release to councillors of the “high-level report from the public service” that outlines cost estimates and traffic and transit implications of reopening the intersection to pedestrian traffic, so the full council can deliberate and vote before the city shells out $1.5 million to yet another outside consultant studying the Portage and Main issue.

Whether you believe reopening Portage and Main is a great idea that will revitalize the city’s downtown or think it’s the craziest, traffic-snarl-creating notion ever to come out of 510 Main St., there’s reason to conclude that Mr. Browaty has a point. Re-introducing pedestrians to only part of the intersection seems very much like a recipe for trouble, given the uncertainty it would create for motorists and the temptation it would invite for those on foot to try their luck crossing the other still-closed sections of the streetscape.

If, as Mayor Brian Bowman has continually pledged, the corner of Portage and Main is destined to welcome surface-level pedestrian traffic for the first time since 1979, the reopening should be done in a manner that heeds the warning of the Dillon report:

“The preferred alternative largely avoids this potential problem by proposing that all four pedestrian crosswalks be opened and located as close to the intersection box and stop lines as possible. This will make Portage and Main consistent with other large intersections by ensuring that pedestrians are directed to cross the street where drivers naturally expect them to and know to look for them.”

Winnipeggers with an abiding desire to cross the city’s most famous corner have waited 40 years for the opportunity to brave its legendary winds while racing across on a too-short “walk” signal. Surely they can wait a bit longer in order to allow the city to make sure such crossings happen with a minimum of car-pedestrian mayhem.

On Mr. Browaty’s advice, the city should look both ways before taking its next step.