I still haven't been to Minneapolis but hopefully I will someday soon -- I'm very curious about it because of how hyped it is among Winnipeggers. However, looking at maps of it, it's insane how dense its freeway network is, even compared to other American cities that are larger.
Winnipeg's transportation system is one of my biggest gripes with the city, even coming from Edmonton, which isn't the best place for transportation planning, but feels like a breeze by comparison. What I find annoying is that there's just no space in discourse for pedestrians or transit. It's all about cars, and maybe cycling if you're lucky. And yet, Winnipeg is annoying to get around via either because the city hasn't properly developed the infrastructure. There's no freeways or grid of arterials and the bike lane network is a sorry patchwork.
It boggles my mind that a city that was built so much around rail transit has no vision for LRT or streetcars, just BRT. And BRT is fine and all, but not the way Winnipeg does it, based on the Blue Line. I'm a huge proponent of public transit, probably more than any other mode of transport, and it pains me to say that I avoid Winnipeg Transit as much as possible despite not owning a car because of how terrible it is. And there's no activism around it. Nor for pedestrians. Even the covid-era "open streets" thing that so many cities did for pedestrians and cyclists was technically only for cyclists in Winnipeg, and had huge backlash from entitled drivers in Wellington Crescent.
But then you walk around or go to a show and clearly see the urgent activist streak in Winnipeg. But it doesn't translate into anything for better urban policy. No push for limiting sprawl, free transit, bikesharing, eliminating parking minimums, banning drive thrus, or any of the newfangled ideas that have been floated around and even implemented in cities like Edmonton and Minneapolis. And it's so crazy-making because Winnipeg has such incredible potential.
Yes, it was sad to be there during winter and only for a short amount of time. My partner and I wanted to explore the LRT system further but time constraints and also the interests of the other parties in our group crushed our plans. I would have been really excited to try biking around the city during the winter because apparently they are more proactive about clearing their bike network. However if the standard is the Winnipeg bike network, then yeah of course anything is better. I hope to visit Minneapolis with a bike in the future!
Yeah, I agree with you that Winnipeg is strange that despite it being so "car centric" it doesn't have any freeways. I would still say this is a positive thing, particularly for various different communities in Winnipeg. Here is an interesting article about the lack of freeways. Particularly interesting is the map that shows the proposed freeways going through West Broadway, the West End, Whitter Park.
Anyways, yeah the reality and supremacy of BRT in the minds of City Hall, when it comes to any talk of public transit is pretty sad. I would imagine it would have something to do with New Flyer being a Winnipeg based bus company. Whether it be actual lobbying by New Flyer or just City Hall's unfounded desire to support local business, LRT be damned, I am unsure.
You were describing how there seems to be an urgent activist streak but that doesn't translate to urban policy. That is something that baffles me too. I think there are certain spaces that are putting being critical and advocating for urban policy but those are on the margins. I am only starting to really dive a bit more with trying to get more involved with city politics and policy conversations. Groups like Functional Transit Winnipeg has been good and I am trying to go to different forums as well but yeah I wish there was more information and a bit more of an obvious effort to channel that activist energy towards advocating for better city policy.
And yeah its funny because as much as I'm an advocate of public transit, I similarly also rarely take Winnipeg transit.
Oh man, the WATS. I knew about that and how the Disraeli is the only part that was actually built, but thanks for the link anyway as it'd been a bit since I looked at it. Funnily enough, Edmonton had a similarly titled METS plan that intended to do the same thing, from 1969. If you're interested there's an overview here: https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/edmonton-mets-plan-1969-historical-freeway-plan.25633/
Similar to WATS, only a small section of the METS was ever actually built - a bridge and an interchange. I'm very glad that Edmonton's ravines and river valley was preserved, though. It's interesting too that, in the wake of the METS plan there was a shift in attitudes away from car-centric policy to trying to alleviate congestion via transit in the early '70s. The fruit of this endeavour was Edmonton's LRT, the first modern light rail in North America, which opened in '78 for the Commonwealth Games. Edmonton was smaller than Winnipeg is now, and soon it'll be the largest Canadian city without LRT, as similarly-sized Quebec City and Hamilton have plans in motion.
But can you imagine LRT down Portage, Pembina, St Mary's, Main, Grant, McPhillips, Henderson? Maybe some streetcars down Osborne, Corydon, Broadway, Provencher, Sargent, Sherbrook/Maryland, Academy, Selkirk? With 3-5 minute headways, as God intended? Winnipeg would be unstoppable. The city has such incredible bones, great activism and arts and community, and it really just needs better urban policy, in terms of public spaces, transportation, housing, and density in particular to tie it all together.
I'm glad there is some decent grassroots activism around cycling, at least, but wish it went beyond that. Both in terms of what the city is doing for cyclists as well as other alternative modes of transport. For a city that has the highest % of pre-war buildings in Canada, and thus the least amount of buildings built after automobility took hold, this city is atrocious to get around without a car, and even driving sucks because the city was clearly not built for it. Instead of building freeways, Winnipeg cheaped out and turned its main streets into quasi-highways. Darling Osborne Village has thin sidewalks while cars roar by and we all know about Portage & Main, where I feel like I lose consciousness every time I wind up in that "circus."
Thanks for plugging Functional Transit Wpg, I don't think I'd come across them before but will look 'em up. Also interesting point about New Flyer and honestly it wouldn't surprise me if that has, consciously or not, influenced policy at the city level.
Lovely photos as always!
I still haven't been to Minneapolis but hopefully I will someday soon -- I'm very curious about it because of how hyped it is among Winnipeggers. However, looking at maps of it, it's insane how dense its freeway network is, even compared to other American cities that are larger.
Winnipeg's transportation system is one of my biggest gripes with the city, even coming from Edmonton, which isn't the best place for transportation planning, but feels like a breeze by comparison. What I find annoying is that there's just no space in discourse for pedestrians or transit. It's all about cars, and maybe cycling if you're lucky. And yet, Winnipeg is annoying to get around via either because the city hasn't properly developed the infrastructure. There's no freeways or grid of arterials and the bike lane network is a sorry patchwork.
It boggles my mind that a city that was built so much around rail transit has no vision for LRT or streetcars, just BRT. And BRT is fine and all, but not the way Winnipeg does it, based on the Blue Line. I'm a huge proponent of public transit, probably more than any other mode of transport, and it pains me to say that I avoid Winnipeg Transit as much as possible despite not owning a car because of how terrible it is. And there's no activism around it. Nor for pedestrians. Even the covid-era "open streets" thing that so many cities did for pedestrians and cyclists was technically only for cyclists in Winnipeg, and had huge backlash from entitled drivers in Wellington Crescent.
But then you walk around or go to a show and clearly see the urgent activist streak in Winnipeg. But it doesn't translate into anything for better urban policy. No push for limiting sprawl, free transit, bikesharing, eliminating parking minimums, banning drive thrus, or any of the newfangled ideas that have been floated around and even implemented in cities like Edmonton and Minneapolis. And it's so crazy-making because Winnipeg has such incredible potential.
Thanks for your comments!
Yes, it was sad to be there during winter and only for a short amount of time. My partner and I wanted to explore the LRT system further but time constraints and also the interests of the other parties in our group crushed our plans. I would have been really excited to try biking around the city during the winter because apparently they are more proactive about clearing their bike network. However if the standard is the Winnipeg bike network, then yeah of course anything is better. I hope to visit Minneapolis with a bike in the future!
Yeah, I agree with you that Winnipeg is strange that despite it being so "car centric" it doesn't have any freeways. I would still say this is a positive thing, particularly for various different communities in Winnipeg. Here is an interesting article about the lack of freeways. Particularly interesting is the map that shows the proposed freeways going through West Broadway, the West End, Whitter Park.
https://americascanceledhighways.com/2018/09/17/nothing-to-see-here-winnipeg-manitoba/
Anyways, yeah the reality and supremacy of BRT in the minds of City Hall, when it comes to any talk of public transit is pretty sad. I would imagine it would have something to do with New Flyer being a Winnipeg based bus company. Whether it be actual lobbying by New Flyer or just City Hall's unfounded desire to support local business, LRT be damned, I am unsure.
You were describing how there seems to be an urgent activist streak but that doesn't translate to urban policy. That is something that baffles me too. I think there are certain spaces that are putting being critical and advocating for urban policy but those are on the margins. I am only starting to really dive a bit more with trying to get more involved with city politics and policy conversations. Groups like Functional Transit Winnipeg has been good and I am trying to go to different forums as well but yeah I wish there was more information and a bit more of an obvious effort to channel that activist energy towards advocating for better city policy.
And yeah its funny because as much as I'm an advocate of public transit, I similarly also rarely take Winnipeg transit.
Oh man, the WATS. I knew about that and how the Disraeli is the only part that was actually built, but thanks for the link anyway as it'd been a bit since I looked at it. Funnily enough, Edmonton had a similarly titled METS plan that intended to do the same thing, from 1969. If you're interested there's an overview here: https://skyrisecities.com/forum/threads/edmonton-mets-plan-1969-historical-freeway-plan.25633/
Similar to WATS, only a small section of the METS was ever actually built - a bridge and an interchange. I'm very glad that Edmonton's ravines and river valley was preserved, though. It's interesting too that, in the wake of the METS plan there was a shift in attitudes away from car-centric policy to trying to alleviate congestion via transit in the early '70s. The fruit of this endeavour was Edmonton's LRT, the first modern light rail in North America, which opened in '78 for the Commonwealth Games. Edmonton was smaller than Winnipeg is now, and soon it'll be the largest Canadian city without LRT, as similarly-sized Quebec City and Hamilton have plans in motion.
But can you imagine LRT down Portage, Pembina, St Mary's, Main, Grant, McPhillips, Henderson? Maybe some streetcars down Osborne, Corydon, Broadway, Provencher, Sargent, Sherbrook/Maryland, Academy, Selkirk? With 3-5 minute headways, as God intended? Winnipeg would be unstoppable. The city has such incredible bones, great activism and arts and community, and it really just needs better urban policy, in terms of public spaces, transportation, housing, and density in particular to tie it all together.
I'm glad there is some decent grassroots activism around cycling, at least, but wish it went beyond that. Both in terms of what the city is doing for cyclists as well as other alternative modes of transport. For a city that has the highest % of pre-war buildings in Canada, and thus the least amount of buildings built after automobility took hold, this city is atrocious to get around without a car, and even driving sucks because the city was clearly not built for it. Instead of building freeways, Winnipeg cheaped out and turned its main streets into quasi-highways. Darling Osborne Village has thin sidewalks while cars roar by and we all know about Portage & Main, where I feel like I lose consciousness every time I wind up in that "circus."
Thanks for plugging Functional Transit Wpg, I don't think I'd come across them before but will look 'em up. Also interesting point about New Flyer and honestly it wouldn't surprise me if that has, consciously or not, influenced policy at the city level.