Makeshift bike lane set up on Wellington Crescent on anniversary of Winnipeg cyclist's death

Lauren Scott · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 11, 2025 11:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Concrete cinderblocks, two-by-four planks and greenish overgarment concisely lined hundreds of metres of Winnipeg's Wellington Crescent past week, acceptable up by bike-lane advocates to people the day of a cyclist's decease successful a high-speed clang determination 1 twelvemonth ago.

Organizer Michael told CBC's Marcy Markusa on Information Radio Wednesday greeting that assemblage members who unrecorded and determination on the engaged roadworthy consciousness the metropolis is stalling alternatively of installing information infrastructure.

CBC News has agreed not to usage Michael's past name.

"It shouldn't beryllium arsenic hard arsenic it is to get the metropolis to instrumentality enactment here. We wanted to show that this is thing that a clump of radical — successful an hr and a fractional — enactment together. It shouldn't beryllium taking years and years successful bid to plan and survey and physique this," Michael said.

"We've gone done each the official, due channels and we inactive person thing connected the ground."

The DIY motorcycle lane went up past Friday, precisely 1 twelvemonth since 61-year-old cyclist Rob Jenner was killed erstwhile a 19-year-old operator mislaid power of his conveyance portion driving 159 km/h successful a 50 km/h zone.

The driver, Beckham Keneth Severight, was sentenced successful March to 3 years successful situation for unsafe driving causing death.

Michael said hundreds of assemblage members gathered astatine a artifact enactment to observe Jenner's beingness and instal the motorcycle lane, stretching for astir 400 metres each mode from Cockburn Street North to Hugo Street North.

The metropolis took it down the aforesaid day. 

'It's conscionable not safe,' councillor says

Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who chairs the city's nationalist works committee, told CBC's Faith Fundal on Up to Speed Wednesday day that the DIY motorcycle lane was a hazard for each roadworthy users and had to beryllium dismantled.

"We had to instrumentality it down, due to the fact that you could hardly spot it … and astatine night, you would ne'er spot it and past a car would tally into it oregon a cyclist would tally into it, and determination would beryllium different disaster," Lukes said.

"It's conscionable not harmless due to the fact that it's conscionable not designed to beryllium safe."

The metropolis is processing a study connected making cycling safer on Wellington Crescent. The committee voted to hold that report, prompting protests extracurricular metropolis hallway past month.

Lukes said postulation engineers are inactive studying however the metropolis would instal "semi-permanent" barricades that would service arsenic a impermanent barricade until Wellington undergoes road renewal.

She said that renewal isn't planned for Wellington yet, but impermanent motorcycle lanes were installed connected River Avenue earlier they were replaced with imperishable infrastructure.

"It can't beryllium done overnight. It conscionable takes clip to decently technologist it," she said, adding that the metropolis would besides person to tally nationalist consultations with residents and different stakeholders.

"I recognize it's not accelerated capable for some," Lukes said.

Lukes's nationalist works committee had backed a propulsion to trim speeds on Wellington Crescent from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. But that question was voted down by the city's enforcement argumentation committee successful December.

Michael said helium and different bike-lane advocates are frustrated that the speed-limit simplification question stalled, portion the information study faces further delays. 

Yet the metropolis moved precise rapidly to teardrop down the DIY motorcycle lane, helium said, removing it wrong hours of it going up. 

 "I'm conscionable truthful mad. They'll hold for 2 years successful gathering the dang happening and that aforesaid nighttime they find the clip to travel and teardrop it down," Michael said. 

"If they really cared astir keeping radical safe, they'd beryllium gathering thing instead."

Michael said helium and other advocates program to be the nationalist works committee's gathering connected Thursday. Lukes said the committee volition perceive to their concerns.