Traffic jams return to south Osborne as work resumes on St. Vital Bridge

Cameron MacLean · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Some radical living, moving and driving successful Winnipeg's southbound Osborne neighbourhood accidental they're confused and frustrated by the instrumentality of postulation jams aft crews resumed enactment connected the St. Vital Bridge implicit the Red River.

Work began successful 2022 and was substantially completed past fall. But erstwhile enactment connected the span unopen down successful October, crews weren't finished yet.

According to a study to Winnipeg metropolis council's concern committee earlier this month, they inactive had to use protective coating to alloy girders, and decorativeness landscaping and ditch work.

That's each expected to wrapper up this summer.

Parysh Blakney, who manages the Osborne Auto Service repair shop, just northbound of the bridge, was relieved erstwhile the enactment wrapped up and the postulation barricades came down past fall. Like others in the neighbourhood, she enactment up with operation enactment connected the span for years.

But past earlier this spring, the enactment crews came back.

"[I'm] conscionable confused arsenic to what they're doing now, due to the fact that … I was nether the assumption, similar everybody else, that it was each done," Blakney said.

Traffic problems look worse present than before, and drivers little patient, she said.

"We conscionable got a batch of radical cutting done the parking batch trying to debar waiting successful the line," said Blakney.

"They're coming up the broadside streets and they chopped done astatine rather a speed. There's been a fewer times wherever backing retired of the shop, you person to halt existent quick, due to the fact that someone's coming ace accelerated that shouldn't be."

Diane Papineau, who lives southbound of the span and crosses it each day, says trips to get coffee — usually a five-minute thrust — can present instrumentality up to 25 minutes.

Like Blakney, Papineau was relieved erstwhile operation crews near past fall, and said she feels "a small depressed" present that enactment has resumed.

She would similar to spot crews enactment astatine night, to lessen the impacts connected commuters.

"There's cipher connected the span [at night]," she said. "You could get things done a batch faster."

Public works committee seat Janice Lukes says she understands the frustration, but the enactment needed to beryllium done.

"I mean, this is Winnipeg. It's operation season," the Waverley West councillor said.

"You're going to extremity up with a spectacular, state-of-the-art bridge, truthful it volition beryllium worthy the wait. You won't person to woody with this for astir apt different 60 to 75 years, unless thing antithetic happens."

Elsewhere, the Louise Bridge, which connects Point Douglas and Elmwood, has been closed since past Friday. It was expected to unfastened Wednesday, but the metropolis has extended the closure until Monday.

During an yearly inspection past weekend, crews recovered immoderate "accelerated corrosion," City of Winnipeg spokesperson Julie Horbal Dooley wrote successful an email.

"We are inspecting further locations this week and processing a program to repair the affected areas. Repairs to signals astatine the southbound extremity of the span are besides underway and volition beryllium completed this week during the span closure," she said.

Last year, metropolis assembly approved a program to reconstruct the 115-year-old bridge, alternatively than physique a replacement. That restoration enactment is expected to beryllium completed by 2030 and widen the beingness of the span for different 30 years.

Meanwhile, enactment connected the Pembina Highway overpass at Abinojii Mikanah began earlier this month, and is expected to past until astatine slightest autumn of adjacent year.