City of Winnipeg planning to give Pembina Highway a major facelift

WINNIPEG — A major rehabilitation project on Pembina Highway will be underway in a few weeks. The busy stretch – from Osborne St. to Grant Ave. sees 58, 000 vehicles drive through every day.

The city is planning an $11.7 million project to redo traffic lanes, add buffered bike lanes and new sidewalks.

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“The stretch is identified as an active transportation priority, so we are taking the opportunity with the pavement rehabilitation to add these features,” Michelle Stainton from Public Works said.

The city wants to get the project done as fast as possible while maintaining traffic flow, but congestion will be unavoidable.

“The best bet is I guess is to avoid the area during construction, that’s sort of our best advice,” Stainton said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The best bet is I guess is to avoid the area during construction, that's sort of our best advice," Stainton said.

The stretch of Pembina was rated ‘poor’ by the city ten years ago, and has been stuck at ‘poor’ ever since. The road has seen some repairs over the years but it hasn’t been resurfaced since 1979.

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The owners of Float.Calm, a floatation therapy centre, are worried about the additional noise. Their entire business depends on a relaxing atmosphere.

“If the noise goes up and we have jack hammers outside, or crazy amounts of vibrations from the construction, that could cause us a problem,” Brad Dauk said.

“The end result sounds pretty amazing, but I think the short term is going to be difficult.”

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The city said that parking will be restricted but they are willing to work with businesses during the construction.

Construction will begin in June and be completed in fall 2017.

An open house Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the River Osborne Community Centre will answer questions and collect feedback from residents and businesses about the project.