City looking for contractor to start Portage and Main reopening work in November

The City of Winnipeg says it wants work on street-level pedestrian crossings at Portage Avenue and Main Street to begin in November, with the aim of having Winnipeg's most famous intersection once again open to foot traffic by next July.

Winnipeg city council voted in March to reopen the intersection to pedestrians. The city said at that point it wanted to have the intersection, which has been closed to above-ground pedestrian traffic for more than four decades,open by July 1, 2025.

On Friday, the city issued a tender for construction work on the reopening, which says the winning bidder is expected to begin the work by Nov. 15.

The construction is expected to take seven months, with work fully completed by June 27, 2025.

Coun. Janice Lukes, who chairs the city's public works committee, said it's a "tight but doable window of time," which will have construction work done ahead of a major Winnipeg Transit route overhaul set to launch on June 29. 

With the reconfiguration of many city's bus routes and the addition of a transit hub at Portage and Main, Lukes said the flow of foot traffic in the area will change, and the city wants that to be supported with the new street-level crossings.

"There is a lot of work to do," Lukes told CBC News.

"Like any construction, it won't be fun for a while, but when it's done, I do really believe it will make a very big difference for our downtown." 

Reopening the intersection to pedestrians is also one of the pieces "toward improving our downtown," a top priority for city council, said Lukes.

"This is great, so let's get going. Let's do it."

Portage and Main was closed to pedestrians at street level in 1979, after the opening of an underground concourse linking its four corners. An agreement with neighbouring property owners to keep the intersection closed to pedestrians expired in 2019.

In a 2018 plebiscite, Winnipeggers voted in favour of keeping the intersection closed to pedestrians.

But city council voted in March to reopen it, weeks after a report said it would cost $73 million to replace a waterproof membrane protecting the underground concourse, which would also cause up to five years of traffic delays.

'As little disruption as possible': city

The contractor working on the reopening will be required to demolish and remove the existing concrete barriers at the intersection, add new curbs and sidewalks to allow crossing at all four corners, and add a curb extension at the southeast corner to allow for a shorter pedestrian crossing distance across Portage Avenue, the city's tender says.

Work is expected to be done at the same time on all four corners of the intersection, and bidders are also required to outline how they intend to "maintain access to the businesses in the area during construction with as little disruption as possible," the city said in a Friday news release.

A spokesperson for the city told CBC News in a statement the curb lanes along all four corners of the intersection will be closed throughout the construction.

Additional lane closures may also be required throughout the project, the city said, but work may be done on weekends and during off-peak weekday times to help minimize disruptions.

The contractor will be responsible for ensuring pedestrian safety in the area, including during public events like the annual Santa Claus Parade, scheduled this year for Nov. 16, the city says in its guidelines for the tender.

The tender is open to bidding until Oct. 7, with the contract set to be awarded by Nov. 8, the city says.

The city says additional design work at the intersection will be included in an upcoming preliminary design study for rapid transit downtown corridors, expected to begin in 2025.

That study "will integrate Winnipeg Transit infrastructure into the final design of the intersection" for council to consider, the city's news release said.