WINNIPEG — It’s getting a little crowded on the already busy corner of Broadway and Donald Street, and water main construction isn’t making it any easier to get through.
Tenants in the building at 305 Broadway tell Global News a water main burst under the building and flooded the basement a couple of months ago.
But many people walking or using a wheelchair to get by said they don’t quite understand why that means almost the entire sidewalk has to be blocked off.
Richard Milgrom is a cyclist and said it’s an absolute headache trying to get through, not to mention how unsafe it when there are large crowds on the busy sidewalk.
Paul MacDonald has been in a wheelchair for ten years now and said it’s frustrating and dangerous to get through obstacle courses like these on Winnipeg sidewalks.
“For most people, you know a tiny step like that, it’s nothing. You just step over it. For me, that’s an insurmountable barrier,” said MacDonald.
With such a lack of space, thanks to the barriers put up on the sidewalk, people trying to share the sidewalk said they’re worried for their safety when they’re trying to pass.
The barricade says City of Winnipeg and a hose hooked up to a city fire hydrant stretches in to the building. But, the city said the hose and temporary water supply were requested by the property owner where the flood happened on June 16th. There’s no word yet on how long the repairs inside are going to take, or how long the sidewalk obstacle course will continue.