Universally accessible toboggan run sliding into Winnipeg

A project designed to make a favourite winter pastime more accessible is ready just in time for the holidays.

A brand new toboggan slide at St. Vital Park opens Friday and unlike the structure it replaces, this one features a ramp.

“Throughout the design process we thought there was an opportunity to be accessible,” Liz Wreford, the principal landscape architect with Public City Architecture said. “This was a really amazing opportunity to create a unique structure for Winnipeg,”

The city launched the project after the old toboggan run burnt down around five years ago. The initial plans didn’t feature the ramp but as time went on, Wreford said the city realized the project at the potential to be so much more.

“Some people with mobility issues aren’t able to experience some of the recreational opportunities in our city,” she said. “I have little kids and even getting kids upstairs to the top of slides, holding toboggans, can be challenging. Now you can pull kids while still on their toboggan up on the ramp to get on the slide.”

The structure also features two toboggan runs, lighting that changes colour and a warming area that can be converted to a picnic shelter during the summer.

Wreford said the cost for the project is around $750,000 with funding coming from the city and the province.

The slides officially open Friday at 10 a.m

For other toboggan slides around Winnipeg click here.