Winnipeg councillor says tunnel under north Perimeter Highway 'ridiculous'
CBC News | Posted: March 12, 2015 3:26 AM | Last Updated: March 12, 2015
A Winnipeg councillor and North Kildonan residents say they are against the province’s planned tunnel under the north Perimeter Highway near Lagimodiere Boulevard.
Councillor Jeff Browaty said Wednesday that the original plan was to build a pedestrian and bike bridge in the area.
But Browaty said those ideas have fallen by the wayside. The new plan includes digging a vehicular tunnel beneath the stretch of roadway that could accommodate up to 30,000 vehicles a day on to city streets within 15 years.
"What's happened is the NDP promised this bike bridge ... Now they're proposing to spend tens of millions of dollars on a active transportation crossing as well as a vehicular piece. North Kildonan is not set up to handle that volume of traffic" Browaty said.
"The active transportation component of this isn't a problem. But the amount of dollars we're talking about it, it seems inappropriate and quite frankly ridiculous."
The North Kildonan councillor said so far only the engineering and design work on the tunnel has been done.
The tunnel would connect Raleigh Street both north and south of the Perimeter Highway.
Browaty said people are flooding him with calls saying they're opposed to the project.