Winnipeg mayor wants Portage and Main reopened to pedestrians by July 1, 2025

The plan to reopen Portage Avenue and Main Street to pedestrians took a step forward Thursday, passing its first vote at city hall.

The property and development committee unanimously passed a motion, crafted by Mayor Scott Gillingham and chair Coun. Sherri Rollins, to allow people to cross the intersection for the first time in more than four decades.

Gillingham wants the barricades that block pedestrian access removed by July 1, 2025.

"There are 10,000 intersections in the city of Winnipeg, and for 150 years Winnipeggers have been crossing intersections," he said.

"And you can cross every intersection at-grade except Portage and Main. This is just an intersection — an important intersection, but at the end of the day it's just an intersection."

Maintaining the underground concourse, which links all four corners of the city's main office district via an underground roundabout, costs the city nearly $1 million every year, a news release from the mayor's office said on Thursday. 

Last week, a report estimated the city would need to spend approximately $73 million to repair the membrane protecting the concourse, a process that could take five years. Those costs don't include potential structural repairs to the concourse itself, Gillingham said.

"We haven't even factored that in," he told reporters during the meeting Thursday.

"If we take a look at it … and there was an associated cost needed to repair concrete or replace concrete, then the price tag goes up from $73 million."

The motion asks for $13 million to remove barricades and install sidewalks and pedestrian traffic signals.

Between 2018 and 2023, the annual operating expenses — for security, maintenance, cleaning services and utilities — exceeded the rental income earned by the city by an average of $965,832.

The practical approach is to close the concourse and allow people to cross at street level, like other intersections, Gillingham said.

Winnipeg mayor wants Portage and Main reopened to pedestrians by July 1, 2025

9 months ago

Duration 2:08

Winnipeg's mayor Scott Gillingham, wants pedestrians to be able to cross the Portage Avenue and Main Street intersection above ground by July 1, 2025, at the latest.

'Sticker shock'

The motion moves on to executive policy committee next week. Two members of the mayor's inner circle expressed skepticism about the estimated costs, urging their fellow councillors not to rush their decision.

Finance committee chair Coun. Jeff Browaty, speaking as a delegation, said he also experienced "sticker shock," but said the committee should approve the initial design proposed by city staff, which took into account the results of a 2018 plebiscite won by those in favour of keeping the barricades in place.

Water and waste chair Coun. Brian Mayes pointed out decommissioning the intersection carries costs, and will also result in traffic delays.

The service life of the membrane that protects the underpass is 40 years, which means it would all have to be replaced again, Gillingham said.

"It's not a one-time cost. And when you calculate the construction-related inflation on $73 million, that gets you up to $200-plus million 30-40 years from now," he said.

"I don't think future generations would appreciate that decision. I think it's time to make the common-sense decision."

Portage and Main was closed to pedestrians in 1979 and an agreement was signed with neighbouring property owners to keep it that way. That deal expired in 2019.

Should the city opt to close the concourse and do other repairs needed at the intersection, the cost would be in the $20 million to $50 million range, subject to further study.

"This is a very rough number. We need to get a refined number on that," Gillingham said on Thursday.

He wants to see the intersection reopened to pedestrians no later than July 1, 2025, to coincide with the launch of a new transit route network.

The concourse is connected to the Winnipeg Square shopping mall and other subterranean pathways people use to cross the famous intersection, as well as the skywalk system.

Disability advocates at the meeting praised the decision to allow above-ground crossings, but lamented the loss of the concourse.

"These pieces of indoor routes are really, really vital to our community," said Patrick Stewart, a consultant with the Independent Living Resource Centre.

Gillingham called proposition of opening the intersection and closing the concourse "an either-or scenario," but Rollins expressed a willingness to consider options.

"I don't like binaries, right? Open, closed — my job today, obviously, is to add complexity to all of it," she said.

The motion also directs city administration to assess the condition of the underground "to determine the steps required to decommission and close the concourse to public access" and earmark $13 million for the redesign of the intersection and construction requirements.

After the vote on Thursday, the motion moves on to the executive policy committee next week. If the mayor's inner circle passes the motion, it will move on to city council for debate and vote.