‘A lot of doomsday noise’: Winnipeg traffic study finds minimal impact to Portage and Main reopening

The City of Winnipeg says there have been no issues since the reopening of Portage and Main six months ago. Joseph Bernacki reports.

Winnipegger David Kron was one of the first people to walk across Portage and Main on June 27 – the morning it reopened to pedestrian traffic for the first time in nearly 50 years.

“I crossed the morning of. I was there at 10 in the morning when they opened it up,” Kron said.

Prior to reopening on June 27, the intersection had been shuttered to pedestrians since February 1979.

In March 2024, city council voted to reopen the intersection, citing new information that repairs to the aging underground concourse would cost upwards of $73 million and cause lengthy traffic disruptions.

Kron lives with cerebral palsy, a condition that limits his mobility. He said the re-opening was much needed for the accessibility community.

“It removes barriers, all of those invisible barriers. If they’re not using a cane or a wheelchair walker or whatever that situation is, even just navigate through space,” Kron said.

On average, Kron crosses the intersection once a week on foot.

“I really don’t see a lot of people crossing, to be honest,” he said.

There are people walking, however – an average of 3,570 people daily since Sept. 1, according to new data from the City of Winnipeg.

A city spokesperson said the impact on traffic is minimal. A recent analysis of time spent in traffic for all routes showed a negligible increase from 2024 when the barricades were up.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said that’s encouraging.

“There was a lot of doomsday noise that before it opened that, you know, there would be a lot of accidents and traffic delays would be long,” Gillingham said.

“That just hasn’t happened.”

According to the data, morning travel on two routes was unchanged year-over-year. Travel time for the other two routes increased by less than a minute. Afternoon travel time on one route decreased and increased on the other three by one to two minutes.

Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) put forward a plebiscite motion back in 2018 where Winnipeggers voted no to opening the intersection. Sixty-five per cent voted no, though the plebiscite was non-binding.

Lukes said the new data is a relief because city engineers had forecasted much worse.

“(They said) every traffic flow is going to be (bad) all over. It was traffic Armageddon right,” Lukes said.

“None of that happened.”

Jino Distasio teaches urban geography at the University of Winnipeg. He said the city made the right choice in reopening the busy intersection.

“I think it’s just become routine, again, like any other intersection in any major city,” Distasio said.

“People cross busy roads.”