A pilot traffic safety project at the intersection of Main Street and Assiniboine Avenue will move ahead after a committee vote on Tuesday.
Winnipeg city council’s public works committee approved the project, which calls for eliminating vehicle right turns from Assiniboine onto Main Street. Eastbound vehicles on Assiniboine will be diverted north on Fort Street toward Broadway.
The city will also add a protected left turn signal for vehicles turning from northbound Main Street onto Assiniboine, but will prohibit left turns during the afternoon rush hour.
A traffic safety study ordered by the city found right turns from Assiniboine onto Main endanger people biking and walking there — and that left turns from Main onto Assiniboine put both drivers and pedestrians at “significant risk.”
Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Sherri Rollins pushed for changes to the intersection.
“My residents have filmed the videos, and clearly the public service spent time filming the videos, to see just the traffic violations that do happen there and the near-miss collisions that do happen on it on the daily,” she said in an interview.
Estelle Wall has seen some close calls trying to cross the intersection at Main Street and Assiniboine avenue.
“I come through here pretty much every day … for my bus route to work, and there has been a couple of times where people are trying to make turns, and they do get dangerously close to hitting me or other pedestrians,” Wall said, speaking at the intersection.
“It is kind of nerve-racking.”
Rollins asked the committee to make sure area residents and businesses are consulted about the project, and also to provide regular updates as the project moves along.
The public works committee passed a motion calling for consultations with all residents and businesses within 300 metres of the intersection. City staff will deliver a verbal update on the project in six months, with a final report expected in November of 2025.
Mark Cohoe of Bike Winnipeg says the changes will make the intersection safer for cyclists.
“It’s taking proactive steps to act on those concerns and I think … that we’ll see a pretty significant safety increase there,” he said in an interview.
The committee approved the project with chair Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) and Coun. Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan) in support.
Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) voted in opposition, while Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seinne River) was absent.