The City of Winnipeg will remove a few dozen parking spaces from Burrows Avenue to prevent vehicles from blocking drivers’ sight lines, despite residents’ fight to save the spots.
A city report notes the intersection of Burrows Avenue and Charles Street was evaluated after 311 complaints reported frequent T-bone (right-angle) collisions at the site.
City officials then found a “pattern of similar collisions at numerous intersections with Burrows Avenue,” the report notes.
An illustration of the planned parking restrictions at one intersection on Burrows Avenue. (City of Winnipeg)
“Between 2016 and 2020, 180 collisions occurred at unsignalized intersections on Burrows Avenue. More than 60 per cent were right-angle in configuration. Around two-thirds of the right-angle collisions were severe and resulted in injury,” wrote David Patman, the city’s manager of transportation planning, in the report.
None of the collisions during the study period were fatal.
The city found the most common causes for the crashes were drivers failing to yield right-of-way, leaving the stop sign before it was safe to do so, and careless driving, while parked vehicles were blamed as part of the problem.
“On-street parking on both sides of Burrows Avenue is highly utilized and often acts like a ‘wall’ of parked vehicles. This reduces the sight lines of drivers. When sight lines are limited, motorists may proceed when it is unsafe to do so, and this can result in severe right-angle collisions,” the report notes.
The city says parking within 15 metres of intersections was found to block the line of sight. Due to that, the public service will add “no parking anytime” signs to remove that option, which will eliminate about 33 spaces on Burrows between Main and McPhillips streets.
Some residents say the area already suffers from a lack of parking spaces and fear the change will make the problem much worse.
“It’s a real struggle to park and we’re looking at losing 33 spots and I just think that’s ridiculous,” said Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association.
Warren said a door-to-door petition gathered more than 100 signatures to oppose the move, which he said would create a major hassle for seniors and people with mobility issues, who would be forced to park further from their homes.
“The community is saying we can’t afford to lose these parking stalls,” he said.
Warren believes most accidents take place in winter due to large snow mounds alongside roads wreaking havoc with sight lines, rather than parked cars. He urged the city to focus on plowing snow further from intersections, instead of reducing parking.
Warren suggested the crash data may also appear worse than it is, since Burrows is a busy connector street.
“I’m not saying accidents don’t happen. But if you look at the number of vehicles that go down here daily, is it really that bad?” said Warren.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
The city plans to remove a few dozen parking spaces from Burrows Avenue to prevent vehicles from blocking drivers’ sight lines.
A request to speak with a city road safety official was not granted. In an email, the city stressed its top priority is to improve safety in the area.
“While residents have expressed concerns with the parking restrictions, the safety risk is simply too high to ignore,” wrote Rebecca Peterniak, a city road safety management engineer.
Peterniak said the city will work to address accessibility and other concerns on a case-by-case basis, suggesting residents call 311 to report issues. She said the “overwhelming majority” of properties along the affected section of Burrows have parking space available on a front driveway or back lane.
The city report notes the parking changes will remove about five per cent of available on-street parking on the avenue, leaving about 650 on-street spaces.
While parking officials have the authority to make the changes with a city committee or council vote, the Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan Community Committee is set to discuss the matter at its May 28 meeting and could request changes.
Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, a member of the committee, said he will ask for a compromise. Eadie will call for the parking restrictions to be added on a temporary basis and for the city to study the impact of snow piles in obscuring drivers’ views over the next two winters.
“Something needs to be done, it’s dangerous. So (I’m) not going to say don’t do it. What (I am) saying is do it temporarily,” he said. “If it’s discovered that it’s really the snow that’s causing the problem, then restore the parking back.”
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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