City of Winnipeg's long-term transportation strategy calls for $4.7B overhaul in next 25 years

Cameron MacLean · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 7:25 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

A caller program to overhaul Winnipeg's proscription strategy calls for $4.7 cardinal successful spending implicit the adjacent 25 years.

On Friday, the City of Winnipeg released its Transportation 2050 strategy, an update to the city's proscription maestro plan.

It outlines a imaginativeness for the metropolis arsenic a hub for transporting goods, portion encouraging much radical to displacement distant from single-passenger vehicles and toward active proscription and nationalist transit.

"Winnipeg is simply a planetary multimodal proscription hub," nationalist works committee seat Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) said successful an interview.

"It's the heartbeat of our economy, right? Moving goods is simply a immense origin successful economical development."

The program recommends a fig of aviator projects, including designated motortruck lanes, unafraid motorcycle parking, reduced parking connected arterial roads and autonomous autobus testing.

A report, to beryllium discussed astatine adjacent Thursday's nationalist works meeting, says automated buses "are acceptable for real-world investigating and Winnipeg's Southwest Transitway is an perfect investigating location, arsenic a afloat separated right-of-way that experiences acold and wintertime conditions."

Lukes says the metropolis won't beryllium capable to bash everything successful the program instantly and volition request to travel up with a database of priorities.

The study says the metropolis has identified billions of dollars successful unfunded, but necessary, infrastructure upgrades, with galore bridges nearing the extremity of their utile life. 

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the metropolis continues to question backing from different levels of authorities for large infrastructure projects, similar widening Kenaston Boulevard and extending Chief Peguis Trail.

"We cannot present services arsenic a metropolis to the residents if we don't person a beardown economy, due to the fact that we request the gross from a beardown system to money the services that we supply to Winnipeggers," helium said.

"And truthful I judge we truly request to look intimately astatine concern successful our commercialized routes. We've talked astir Kenaston/Route 90, and the upgrades that request to hap there — Chief Peguis Trail hold arsenic well. Those are economical routes."

Graham Avenue 'a blank slate': mayor

More changes could besides travel to downtown's Graham Avenue aft Winnipeg Transit's caller superior web goes into effect aboriginal this month.

The caller transit web volition determination each buses disconnected Graham and implicit to Portage Avenue.

"That provides a large opportunity. It's astir similar Graham Avenue is simply a blank slate and tin beryllium reimagined for thing truly antithetic and invigorating," Gillingham said.

The study recommends removing the street's designation arsenic a motortruck way betwixt Vaughan Street and Carlton Street, arsenic good arsenic betwixt Fort Street and Main Street.

It besides calls for reducing the velocity bounds betwixt Vaughan and Carlton from 50 km/h to 30.

The city's CentrePlan 2050 document, which outlines extended changes passim the downtown to summation the fig of radical surviving and walking successful the neighbourhood, includes a fig of projects for Graham Avenue.

They see installing benches and different amenities, motorcycle connectivity, and greening the street. Work connected those projects is expected to statesman this summertime aft the transit web switches over.

Marion Street upgrades

After years of survey and sometimes contentious nationalist feedback, the metropolis has released its last study connected the Marion Street corridor improvements study.

A erstwhile program to widen the thoroughfare met important nationalist opposition, starring the metropolis to wantonness it in 2016 and travel up with a caller plan.

That plan calls for a full of $133.3 cardinal successful caller spending, including motorcycle lanes, multi-use paths, intersection upgrades and different improvements on the corridor successful St. Boniface.

The plan, if afloat implemented, would necessitate the afloat oregon partial acquisition of 65 properties, astatine a outgo of astir $14 million.

The study sets a extremity of starting operation by 2030.