Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/1/2012 (3179 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Council's public works committee has approved a design plan to widen Kenaston Boulevard to six lanes and acquire additional properties to make room for the new roadway.

City administration previously determined that the best way to widen the congested route is to acquire land from Kapyong Barracks on the west side and about 50 homes on the east side.

A Kenaston-area resident Ken Klassen told council's public works committee that the city has not done a cost-benefit analysis or environmental impact assessment to determine that Kenaston needs to be widened. He said Winnipeg could have examined other options, such as increasing the capacity of area intersections.

Klassen said it doesn't make sense to move ahead with the proposed alignment since no one knows what will be developed at Kapyong Barracks, as the matter is still tied up in court.

Public works director Brad Sacher said a cost-benefit analysis was done, but it was not included in the administration's report to the committee. He said current road standards suggest a road be widened to six lanes when traffic counts exceed more than 35,000 vehicles per day. Sacher said volumes have been upwards of 50,000 vehicles per day for decades, and recent data show between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles travel the route daily.

Council's public works committee voted in favour of the proposed alignment by a vote of 3-1. Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi voted against the plan.

The proposed alignment still has to be approved by executive policy committee and city council.