Route 90 reconstruction cost now pegged at $737M, including interest
Mayor says work must be done; some councillors raise questions about megaproject
The reconstruction of Route 90 will cost the City of Winnipeg $737 million in construction and interest charges, according to a new preliminary design for a project that involves widening Kenaston Boulevard, rebuilding the St. James bridges over the Assiniboine River and replacing combined sewers along the corridor.
The long-delayed Route 90 project would also require the city to purchase or expropriate 78 private properties to make way for the reconstruction of what public officials describe as one of only two north-south routes that span the entire city.
The city would have to give up 14 properties of its own and purchase 50 more from the federal defence department.
In a report to council's public works committee, City of Winnipeg engineering manager Brad Neirinck said it makes more sense to widen Route 90 to three lanes in both directions rather than to rebuild the route as is.
"The corridor requires upgrades to address current and future traffic volumes, new development and future redevelopment, as well as the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users," Neirinck writes in a report to city council's public works committee.
The report pegs the cost of the work itself at $586 million. The city would also incur interest charges of $151 million if it borrows money to conduct the work on its own, without help from other levels of government, Neirinck stated.
Rebuilding the St. James bridges and rebuilding the existing roads along Route 90 would make up 42 per cent of the cost, the report says. The widening of Kenaston would eat up 36 per cent of the tab, with the remaining 22 per cent covering the cost of combined sewer replacements.
Mayor Scott Gillingham, who campaigned for office in 2022 on a promise to widen Kenaston Boulevard, said he hopes the province helps the city cover the cost.
"This project has to be done. Anyone who's driven down Route 90 in that section lately will know that this road is past its end of life," he said.
Neirinck's report also extols the long-term fiscal benefits of the project, noting the combined sewer replacements and bridge reconstructions must be completed even if Kenaston Boulevard is not widened.
The report also claims the project will benefit the environment by reducing carbon emissions from idling vehicles — and also claims it advances reconciliation because it will serve Naawi-Oodena, the Treaty 1-led redevelopment of the former Kapyong Barracks land on Kenaston.
St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard, who has criticized the Route 90 project in the past, said he wonders what else Winnipeg could build with more than half a billion dollars.
"I know you can justify one project, but what about the thousand other projects that haven't been looked into, haven't been justified?" he asked.
Allard said he wants to read the report before he decides whether he supports or opposes this iteration.
Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, who supports the project, asked why its design was completed before a design for the extension of Chief Peguis Trail in northeast Winnipeg.
"It's clear the mayor's already picked which one of the projects he campaigned on is going to go first," he said.
Eadie also asked why the city has no plan yet to replace or rehabilitate the shuttered Arlington Bridge.
St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes, who sits alongside Gillingham on council's executive policy committee, criticized the Route 90 report for its environmental claims.
Mayes said it makes no sense to extol the carbon-emission virtues of a road widening project when most studies of similar projects conclude they add to emissions by encouraging more traffic.
"The cost-benefit [analysis] just seemed to be an exercise in coming up with a positive number. Let's just leave all that aside, and the purported environmental benefits, and have an honest debate about it," he said.
