WINNIPEG — A last-minute disagreement between the city and province over how to proceed with the construction of an underpass could scrub the whole project, one city councillor says.
Officials from all three levels of government were supposed to hold a ground-breaking ceremony Monday morning at the site of a planned underpass at Plessis Road south of Dugald Road, but it was cancelled 35 minutes before it was supposed to start.
Every day 16,000 vehicles travel down Plessis and over the railway tracks, and every day, many get stuck waiting for a train. Now the $77-million underpass that would solve that problem is in jeopardy, city officials say.
The province wants to put a temporary road in to lessen the inconvenience to drivers, but city officials say that’s not an option.
The current plan is to close a portion of Plessis Road for a year and a half during construction, starting Aug. 1.
But the province — which is putting up a third of the cost — now wants the city to build a temporary road to allow traffic to continue to flow during construction.
The city says in order to get $25 million of federal funding for the project, it must be completed by March 2015; building a temporary road would delay completion and risk losing that money.
“The only thing I can conclude is either they’re lying to the people or they’re totally disorganized and incompetent,” Coun. Russ Wyatt said, “because they’re saying one thing and doing another.”
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“We want to see it go forward and we’ll do that when everyone is on the same page,” said Premier Greg Selinger. “If there’s further discussion to finalize the details, that’s fine.”
With construction crews in place and ready to build, pamphlets asking the city to change its plans were mailed Monday by three NDP MLAs.
The issue is dividing local residents.
“They’re insane if they think they’re going to close this off,” said Brad Mastervick, who lives and works in the area. “They want us to run through residential property and streets with heavy equipment, and we’re going to be doing that for a year and half.”
Other residents don’t want the underpass delayed any longer.
“People coming home from work, it takes them an extra half an hour with the trains and everything,” said Jim Sinclair.
“For 101 years, we’ve been sitting waiting for trains,” Wyatt said, “and its looks like there is a potential for the next 101 years, we’ll be sitting and waiting for trains.”
No future date was set for the sod turning.
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