Public works chair says private sector should help pay to reopen Portage and Main

City council's public works chair says it maytake both private and public money to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians, one ofMayor Brian Bowman's priorities.

South Winnipeg-St. Norbert Coun. Janice Lukes said she hopes property owners around Portage and Main will reopen the city's famous intersection, which has been closed to pedestrian traffic since 1979.

Bowman made the reopening a campaign pledge when he ran for mayor in 2014 and said this Junehe hopes to make it happen in time for the Canada Summer Games and Canada's 150thbirthday in 2017.

• Mayor wants Portage and Main open before Canada Summer Games

A traffic study that could pave the way for a reopening has been completed and is now in the hands of senior city officials.

Lukes said she has not seen the study andis unaware how much it would cost to reopen the intersection. She said she expects that figure will be part of thedeliberations for 2017 budget, which will be presented to the public on Nov. 22.

Lukessaid regardless of the cost, she expects Portage and Mainproperty owners to contribute.

"Ideally, the folks on the corner will kick in it all, and the city wouldn't have to do anything," she said, apparently in jest."We're hearing the mayor really wants this for Canada 150. I thinkwe can do anything we want in a city, if we have the funding to support it."

Lukes also said she expects Winnipeg Transit to bear some additional costs as a result of the reopening. Portage and Main is heavily used by transit.

"I don't know how they're going to keep their scheduleunless they add more buses, so there's a lot of factors in play here. It'snot just pulling downpieces of concrete and puttingup a few lights," she said.

Transit cool to taxis in diamond lanes

Winnipegwill consider the idea of allowing taxis to use rush-hour diamond lanes even though transit officialsarecool to the idea.

City council's public works committee voted Tuesday to direct public works to look into Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie's idea of allowing taxis and Handi-Transit buses to use diamond lanes.

• Couns. Eadie, Wyatt want to allow taxis to use diamond lanes

This took place afterWinnipeg Transit director Dave Wardroptold the committee diamond lanes are intended for use by high-occupancy vehicles, not taxis, said committee chair JaniceLukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert).

She said she's more amenable to the idea of allowingHandi-Transit vehicles to access diamond lanes, which are used only by buses and cyclists right now.

Limited street cleanup this fall

The City of Winnipeg plans to spend $95,000 this fall to conduct limited street cleaning using money left over from the spring street-cleaning program.

Winnipegcancelled itscitywide fall street-cleaning program last year to trim about $800,000 from the city's operating budget.

Council's public works committee voted Tuesday to use surplus funds from the 2016 spring program to remove leaves from some streetsthis fall.

• Winnipeg streets pile up with leaves after city cancels fall sweep

The cash will be used "toaddress any safety-related concerns to the areas most impacted by extensive foliage," a report authored by public works officials says.

That includes school-zone dropoffs, pedestrian crossings, intersections and other places where decomposing leaves create slippery trouble spots.