City committee backs push to lower speed limit on Wellington Crescent

Winnipeg's public works committee backed a push to lower the speed limit on Wellington Crescent, reversing a decision of an earlier committee to shorten the section of the street with the reduced speed.

The committee approved a motion Friday to lower the speed limit on Wellington from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. The motion still needs final approval from council.

An original version of the motion, which Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Sherri Rollins put forward at the City Centre committee, would have reduced the speed limit up to Kenaston Boulevard.

But after River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow raised concerns about making decisions without advice from traffic engineers, it was changed to end the reduced-speed zone at Academy Road, by the Maryland Bridge.

Rollins said it was important to get the speed limit dropped quickly.

"I don't believe we need a report in order to get something done as fast as possible to reduce [the speed limit] in that particular component of Wellington," which has seen a number of collisions with cyclists and pedestrians, including a  June crash that killed cyclist Rob Jenner.

He was hit by a driver going more than 150 km/h on Wellington.

More than two dozen people registered to speak in favour of the motion, including Wendy Van Loon, Jenner's widow.

She urged the committee to reconsider Rollins's original motion.

"Having different speeds, at different times, on different parts of the road, is confusing to drivers and everyone else," she told the committee.

"[Rob] was killed on Wellington Crescent on June 6 of this year, and so far no actions have been taken to slow down vehicles there. Next Friday, it'll be six months since his death."

The month after Jenner was killed, a teenage girl was injured when she was struck near the Maryland Bridge. 

Public works committee chair Janice Lukes acknowledged traffic studies have shown lower speeds are safer, but said she thinks physical changes to the roadway would be a more permanent solution.

"[Staff are] looking at what they can do from a built environment perspective, because it's one thing to put a speed limit up — it's another thing that it becomes effective," the Waverley West councillor told reporters.

Public works department staff told the committee Wellington Crescent is both a major active transportation route and a busy traffic thoroughfare, with around 15,000 vehicles per day.

In the end, the committee amended the motion to incorporate the section included in the original motion into the reduced-speed zone, and extend it west, beyond where Wellington passes underneath the St. James Bridge and reconnects with Academy Road.  

In addition to lowering the speed on Wellington, the motion asks city staff to come up with an interim plan to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety, until fully separated active transportation infrastructure can be built. 

If approved by council, the lower speed limit could go into effect by February.