A long-in-the-works development aimed at keeping Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood safer will get its first real test this week as students head back to school.
The Wolseley to Downtown Walk Bike Project, which first began in 2018, involves turning a long stretch of Wolseley Avenue into a 30 km/h neighbourhood greenway, with the goal of both slowing down vehicle traffic and reducing vehicle volume.
“It’s really a neighbourhood traffic calming project,” Jamie Hilland, sustainable transportation planner with consultants Urban Systems, told 680 CJOB.
“There are three elementary schools along this section of the corridor — there’s 1,100 students that travel on the commute to and from school every day along this.
“Plus this neighbourhood has asked for traffic calming for a number of years. So this project is really to create an active transportation corridor while addressing some of the concerns of the community about vehicle speeds and vehicle volumes.”
Hilland said research has shown signage alone has a limited effect on driver behaviour, so while 30 km/h signs are prominent along the street, the project also involves built-environment improvements.
“It’s way better than a speed bump … but it has the same impact and effects.
“We’re doing raised pedestrian crossings, elevated ones, so it makes it easier for folks with accessibility issues in particular to cross a level crossing … it does force vehicles to either come to a complete stop or to slow down.”
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Another method being used to reduce both traffic speed and volume, he said, is the narrowing of lanes — constriction which encourages drivers to ease off the gas to avoid hitting the curb.
“It’s been proven time and time again to be one of the most effective strategies for bringing down those speeds,” he said.
“You can’t fly down Wolseley anymore — the road design will tell you to slow down, the signage will tell you to slow down.”
Bike shop Prairie Velo is located on the greenway, directly across the street from École Laura Secord School. Co-owner Suzanne Druwe told 680 CJOB it was “painful” for the business while the project was under construction, but she’s keen to see the results.
“We’ll see if it was really worth it. It should make it a lot safer for the patrols,” Druwe said.
“The whole street is 30 km/h, and people find that really, really slow … and on top of that they have to be careful when they go over these bumps, but it’s safety first, especially in front of a school.”
Druwe said her experience has been that Wolseley residents tend to be conscientious about sharing the road, and about the safety of pedestrians and kids — but the avenue is also frequently used as a shortcut by people going to other parts of town.
“It’s important that safety come first. There are a lot of cyclists on this road as well who share this road with cars, so it’s really important that it be safe.
“There’s going to be a period of adaptation in the neighbourhood.”
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