Winnipeg | Portage and Main

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Who says it has to be a "real ugly" solution?

Why not get rid of the costly and hideous concrete and just go with something like this?

Graders and front end loaders would wipe those out the first winter.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Graders and front end loaders would wipe those out the first winter.

How do the things on other street corners manage to survive the winter?

[HomeInMyShoes]

^If people would source their images properly we could find out easily if it's from a winter city that actually gets snow that needs to be removed or if melt occurs frequently enough that they rarely have to move snow. But, alas, we'll never know.

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by esquire

How do the things on other street corners manage to survive the winter?

Where else are there lightweight railings right beside the curb?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Where else are there lightweight railings right beside the curb?

They don't have to be right beside the curb...set them back a couple of metres. It doesn't seem like some kind of impossible problem.

[borkborkbork]

Wait, the problem you all have with the metal fences is their practicality? Not that they're uglier by an order of magnitude from the concrete planters?

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Who says it has to be a "real ugly" solution?

Why not get rid of the costly and hideous concrete and just go with something like this?

Why not something like that? Well because this isn't China where hopping a simple barrier like that could get you a lifetime prison sentence!

The replacement barrier at P&M need to be easily removable, all weather and resistant to a snow plow thinking it is appropriate to drive through them. I know there is a cost attached to everything but there seem to be a large population of jersery barriers already living in the province. Ideally the City could just reuse the ones currently around the Police HQ as surely the permanent bollards will be in place there long before anything happens at P&M.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by trueviking

They will replace each corner without barriers as the repairs are done, but keep it closed. Then it will just open one day.

When the barriers come down, I think many people will just decide to cross the intersections on their own necessitating the need for crosswalk signals a few months later.

[Wpg_Guy]

[Wpg_Guy]

Major ground floor changes coming to Manitoba’s tallest building at Portage and Main
By Elisha Dacey
Representatives from Stantec Architecture and Harvard Developments, which owns 201 Portage, told Winnipeg’s planning and property development meeting Monday they are hoping to give an unused piece of real estate some use.

A glassed-in walkway, originally intended to give pedestrians some shelter from the wind and elements as they traversed around the building, is rarely used as such and has prevented potential tenants from leasing retail space right behind it, the committee heard Monday.

The protected walkway was originally part of the development agreement between 201 Portage and the City in 1979, said principal architect Michael Banman, but is not being used by pedestrians.

“The walkway is primarily used for smoking and other forms of exchange, becoming a security concern,” he said.

Now, for the first time, a tenant is interested in leasing space behind the walkway, but wants to do away with the round walkway and incorporate it into the space, which is “currently unusable, unleaseable, and actually has never had any kind of presence whatsoever,” said Roseanne Hill Blaisdell, COO of Harvard Developments.

Hill Blaisdell said the company plans to redevelop the lobby, which hasn’t changed since the building opened in the early 1990s. With those renovations, they would like to improve the exterior of the main entrance of the building along with the absorption of the walkway.

The renovations will mean much more visibility on the main floor and will be more energy-efficient, said Hill Blaisdell. In the end, the lobby will be twice as big with new amenities.

The committee was asked for the portion of the development agreement that governs the walkway be amended to “remove the requirement to provide” the sheltered walkway.

The property and development committee concurred. The issue now goes before city council.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

Only in Winnipeg would you be prohibited from "putting lipstick on a pig".

[pspeid]

I would like to think these two items demonstrate some sort of effort by the P & M stakeholders to get the barriers down through a "death of a thousand cuts", as it were. Kind of passive-aggressive if it is, but hey, I wouldn't argue against it.

[trueviking]

^ it 100% is...especially from them.

[Hecate]

That arcade would be an awesome space for a restaurant.

[buzzg]

Looks like the 201 Portage has started a rebrand in anticipation of this construction. A bunch of new signage was up in the concourse and lobby today with a new logo simply calling the building "201" – and you can see the new orange 0 in the logo. I will reserve judgement on the yoga/magician combo happening in the plaza tomorrow.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ it 100% is...especially from them.

Great to hear. I am hoping that by the time of the next civic election there will be enough progress "picking away" at the barriers that it will not even be raised as an issue (or at least the "pro-barrier" group will have a much more difficult time selling the point that $$ has to be spent to re-build the blasted things).

On a side note, yoga/magician sounds like an infomercial product I might buy at 3:00am.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by pspeid

the "pro-barrier" group

FYI it isn't a "pro-barrier" group as much as it is "we need a comprehensive plan for all modes of transportation through all of downtown" group.

In other words opening Portage and Main to pedestrians needs to be a net zero impact to all other flows of people movement including transit.

A huge precussor to any broaching the subject on if Portage and Main should be opened to pedestrians is having a functional and city-wide rapid transit network built out first including connections through downtown that aren't impacted by changes at Portage and Main.

That is something "Team Open" likes to shut their eyes to and pretend it won't be an issue that needs to be solved first.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by CoryB

In other words opening Portage and Main to pedestrians needs to be a net zero impact to all other flows of people movement including transit.

I have to disagree with you there. Some days I hop in a car after work and drive east down Portage and then turn south on Main. Getting through P&M is never an issue. What is an issue is the congestion that inevitably forms on Main once you get south of Graham... it's bumper to bumper traffic that moves slowly until you get over the bridges.

So what is the point of struggling to meet this "net zero impact" standard at P&M you have thrown down when the same old bottleneck is waiting just a few feet away?

[LilZebra]

I don't know who OK'd the paint job of the P&M barriers recently, but it looks as if I'm in some sort of "Parks & Recreation" zone. I fully expect there to be a wading pool somewhere nearby. This is not how that corner should look. It's an area of mainly "suits".

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by esquire

I have to disagree with you there. Some days I hop in a car after work and drive east down Portage and then turn south on Main. Getting through P&M is never an issue. What is an issue is the congestion that inevitably forms on Main once you get south of Graham... it's bumper to bumper traffic that moves slowly until you get over the bridges.

So what is the point of struggling to meet this "net zero impact" standard at P&M you have thrown down when the same old bottleneck is waiting just a few feet away?

Nailed it. There's way more backup outside Bell MTS Place in rush hour (as it's pretty much only 2 lanes due to busses) than there ever is at P&M. That corner is not an issue. Also why does it need to be "net zero" effect – that implies that vehicles are the only users that matter.

Originally Posted by LilZebra

I don't know who OK'd the paint job of the P&M barriers recently, but it looks as if I'm in some sort of "Parks & Recreation" zone. I fully expect there to be a wading pool somewhere nearby. This is not how that corner should look. It's an area of mainly "suits".

Ya it looks really bad, but that's why I think there's some hidden plan here haha