Mayor wants Portage and Main open before Canada Summer Games

Mayor Brian Bowman says he wantsPortageand Main opento pedestrians before the Canada Summer Games are held in Winnipeg in 2017.

Portage Avenue and Main Street has beenclosed to foot traffic since 1979, when a deal was struck between the city and the owners of properties connected the city's subterranean weather-protected walkway system.

With that deal set to expire, city planning and property officials are workingon a plan to allow pedestrians to cross before the Canada Summer Games, the mayor said Friday.

"We are having good discussions with thepropertyowners and we'remaking really good progresson that," Bowman said at RBC Convention Centre, where theFederation of Canadian Municipalities conference is taking place.

"The next time we have so many people here for such a huge event, itwouldbe great for them to be able to cross."

• Portage and Main: Open the gates to Winnipeg pedestrians

"There was unanimityfrom all that were walkingwith us that it's ridiculousin this dayand age, when you have so much positivegrowth going on around that intersection, to not open it up to pedestrians," the mayorsaid.

Bowman said CalgaryMayor Naheed Nenshi got lost in thewalkway below the intersection and called itmost hostile to pedestrians in Canada.

"Hewent down to the tunnel.Hesaidhe was 1,000 per cent lost and reallystruggled to findhis way to the surface," Bowman said."I thinkwe cando a lot more with Canada's most iconic intersection."

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said while he did not get lost below Portage and Main, he too found it disappointing.

"When you'retrying to create a downtown that'svibrant and (has) a great street life to it, your major intersection's got to bea hub of major pedestrian activity, not a zone to be avoided," Iveson said.