Neighbourhood coalition takes aim at new bike lanes for Wolseley, West Broadway

Ray Hignell gestures at the traffic down Westminster Avenue and says he sees more congestion and idling cars in the near future.

The City of Winnipeg is poised to install dedicated bike lanes in two segments for several blocks, as part of its Wolseley to Downtown bike project.

The first phase of the project includes one segment stretching from Osborne Street to Langside Street in the West Broadway neighbourhood, and another segment from there to Walnut Street in Wolseley. Construction on the first segment is set to begin late this month and stretch into August.

Approximately 48 parking spaces will be removed, along with some loading zones, according to the city. Some stop signs will be added and bus stops will be affected along the route during construction.

Hignell's concern over the changes prompted him to form the Wolseley West Broadway Coalition to oppose the plan. 

"It will be very difficult for people who live around here to park.… They won't be able to park in front of their house or it'll be difficult if they have company over," said Hignell. "It's just terrible."

The Wolseley resident says the city's public engagement on the infrastructure changes was badly done and the plan favours a few cyclists over many motorists. 

"They didn't inform the public properly at all. They didn't send out flyers informing everybody that they had drastic changes proposed. They put some fairly innocuous signs on the street in blue and white — essentially a little bit of black tape saying what would a bicycle path look like here," Hignell said.

A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg responded to questions about the consultation saying it was "aware of the coalition's concerns," but said that "community input has been critical in setting direction for this project to date."

The city will go ahead with portions of the bike lane project in June, but has put more westerly sections of the route on hold until it "can do more technical analysis and consult more with the community, who told us during the latest round of public engagement that the proposed design does not meet their needs," wrote the spokesperson in an email. 

Residential rift 

Hignell was a longtime member of the Wolseley Residents' Association, but his opposition to the city's plan for the bike lanes created a rift between himself and the other executives on the organization's board. 

"They sent me a letter and an ultimatum, essentially, that I have to have the same opinion as them. And I can't speak my opinion," Hignell said.

Hignell says when he disagreed with the association's support for the bike route and started the coalition, he was suspended from the board. 

"In any organization, if a member starts a group that is organizing against the democratically arrived position of the group, it's very difficult to have that occur," said Marianne Cerilli, the chair of the residents' association.

There is still a possibility Hignell will be welcomed back and the association has offered mediation to resolve the dispute, she says.

Mediation aside, Cerilli says says the group has taken the position that people need to reduce their reliance on gas-powered vehicles, and the association is adamant about fighting climate change by changing the design of the neighbourhood to favour other modes of transportation. 

"The real issue is we can't be making decisions based on public opinion any longer.… It's not a matter of public opinion to make decisions about reducing car reliance and encouraging active transportation and transit use," Cerilli said. 

Hignell says politics drove his ouster from the board. 

"The Wolseley Residents' Association is being run by a group of people of a certain political mindset who want certain things to happen in the neighbourhood. And they don't really care what most people think," Hignell said. 

Despite the split on the bike route infrastructure, both sides agree the city needs to do a much more comprehensive job on public engagement and any future changes should be installed in a temporary fashion, so residents can see the effects before permanent structures are put in place.