City eyes changes to improve access to Victoria Hospital

WINNIPEG – The city is looking at ways to make it easier and safer for pedestrians to get to Victoria Hospital.

There are no controlled pedestrian crossings for nearly a kilometre on the stretch of Pembina Highway adjacent to the hospital.

This causes people to walk across the busy six-lane road, creating a potentially dangerous situation, said city councillor Janice Lukes.

“I did an analysis on all the hospitals in the city and every single one of them has safe pedestrian crosswalks from bus stops to get across so I really have no idea why this one hadn’t,” said Lukes.

The location is on the city’s pedestrian crossing control priority list but that designation carries no timeline for construction.

However, a report is coming to City Hall next week that will recommend several changes to make the crossing area safer in the meantime.

They include moving a Transit stop to discourage people from walking onto Pembina in front of a bus, eliminating U-turns at Pembina and Dartmouth Drive and building a pedestrian access area on the median.

“There’s a lot of good work being done on changing and preparing for the crosswalk. I’d like to see the crosswalk in there but this is a first step,” said Lukes.

If the report is voted through City Hall it would cost $150,000 for the changes and construction would likely happen next year.

While Victoria Hospital’s emergency department is closing and being converted into an urgent care centre this fall, Lukes doesn’t believe that affects the need for a safer crossing.

“People aren’t going to stop going to the Victoria Hospital for any reason so this change is really important,” she said.