City warns of week-long Portage Avenue E. closure at Main Street

Continued changes to Winnipeg's most iconic intersection will impact traffic in the area starting Tuesday.

Portage Avenue E. at Main Street will be closed to vehicles in both directions for a full week beginning Nov. 12, as part of pre-construction traffic signals work at the intersection, the city says.

The move continues the significant change in operations of the intersection in order to open the area to pedestrians, a move Winnipeg city council voted for in March.

Despite the closure, part of the roadway will open to accommodate the Santa Claus Parade on Nov. 16, the city said.

Local access to the Fairmont Hotel and surrounding parking lots will be available via Lombard Street, the city said.

The closure will also accommodate underground preparation work for demolition of concrete barricades at the surface and other major construction.

The intersection has been closed to above-ground pedestrian traffic since 1979, when concrete barricades closed off the corners.

A majority of Winnipeggers in a 2018 plebiscite voted to keep the intersection closed to pedestrians.

But city council decided earlier this year to take down the concrete walls after councillors learned that replacing the leaky membrane embedded in the intersection's roads could cost at least $73 million and disrupt traffic for five years.

Work on the intersection is anticipated to be completed by the end of June 2025, the city said.

The street-level pedestrian crossing is expected to open by July 1, 2025.

The City of Winnipeg says details on construction and impacts to traffic will be released prior to major construction.