Widen Kenaston!
City studying ways to widen Kenaston
CITY hall is already studying ways to widen the most gridlocked parts of Kenaston Boulevard, a plan in the works before IKEA announced it is coming to town.
The city has quietly commissioned an 18-month-study to look at where the road ought to be widened, how much it might cost and where the work should start.
The "functional plan," which is being done by the MMM Group, looks at a long stretch of the major artery from Ness Avenue near Polo Park to Taylor Avenue. The next step is detailed design and construction plans.
But the study doesn't include the small strip south of Taylor that Premier Gary Doer and Mayor Sam Katz pledged to widen Tuesday at a cost of $18.5 million. A functional plan has already been done on that section, and the right-of-way is already owned by the government. Adding two more lanes there is much simpler than buying up homes or expropriating land along the rest of Kenaston.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city_studying_ways_to_widen_kenaston.html
But on the same day, city hall passed the capital budget plan that cut funds for bike paths!
City council passed the 2009 capital budget this afternoon but it did so to the disappointment of community activists who had earlier pleaded with councillors and Mayor Sam Katz to increase funding for bike paths and pedestrian walkways.
Council voted 11- 4 to approve the $476.1-million public works plan.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/Council_passes_capital_budget.html
Outrageous.