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This article was published 24/2/2015 (2034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Traffic engineers hired to assess the construction of fire-paramedic Station No. 11 told the City of Winnipeg it was bad idea to build the facility inside a cloverleaf at Route 90.

A Stantec traffic study, released by the city this morning after several years' worth of attempts to suppress it, confirms Winnipeg was warned against the location for Station No. 11, the largest of four new fire-paramedic stations built as part of a station replacement program.

The station opened in 2013.

"Based on industry-accepted design standards, under normal circumstances, development of any kind within an interchange would not be recommended," Stantec concluded in its study. "Accesses within an interchange create the potential for serious safety concerns and operational problems."

Stantec nonetheless made several recommendations as to how the city could mitigate those problems, and the city says it has implemented seven of the 11 recommendations. One involved getting rid of a static fire-equipment museum display, which the engineers said would serve as a distraction to motorists passing by the station.

A trio of senior city officials said they are satisfied all safety and operational concerns identified by Stantec have been eliminated with the design changes that were made to the site.

Fire paramedic chief John Lane said there have been no safety issues since the hall went into operation a year ago.

Public works director Brad Sacher said his department is monitoring the hall as it relates to traffic but no issues have emerged.

Sacher conceded that council was not informed of Stantec’s concerns, adding that since the firm’s recommendations were implemented, he said the concerns were eliminated and it wasn’t necessary to share that information with council.

The city had released the bulk of the Stantec study a year ago, following a FIPPA request from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, but withheld the portions dealing with the firms’ conclusions and recommendations.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A city fire truck responds to a call crossing a flood of oncoming light from westbound traffic on Portage Avenue. It's seen leaving Station #11, which sits on top of a cloverleaf surrounded by traffic at Portage Avenue and King Edward Street.

A year ago, acting fire chief Bill Clark told the public works committee he wasn't comfortable releasing the remaining portions of the study because they provided key insight into the final decisions surrounding the Route 90 location.

"There were assumptions, ideas, options that were really part of the dialogue that went back and forth between (Shindico) and the (traffic study) consultant that were part of the decision-making process," Clark told the committee at a Feb. 4, 2014 meeting, adding the city has the discretion to withhold that information.

Michael Jack, the city’s acting chief administrative officer, said this morning the city decided to release the study now because it’s views on such requests has changed.

Jack denied that Mayor Brian Bowman had directed staff to release the entire study, but added he knows that the release is consistent with Bowman’s campaign promise to end FIPPA refusals for discretionary reasons.

Colin Craig, the former prairie director of the CTF, said the study confirms his suspicisions.

"The report seems to validate what we were told through a whistleblower – the city’s traffic division had serious concerns about building a fire hall in a cloverleaf," Craig said.

Craig said concerns should be raised that the public service withheld this information from council when the issue was being debated.

The two-storey Station No. 11 opened inside a cloverleaf on the northwest corner of Portage Avenue and Route 90 in late 2013. It replaced a previous Station 11 built on Berry Street in 1912.

Along with stations in Sage Creek, Charleswood and South River Heights, Station No. 11 was built as part of a multi-year plan to replace crumbling and antiquated fire-paramedic stations that can't accommodate large emergency vehicles, adequately serve a coed workplace or meet modern post-disaster standards.

The first phase of the project was marred by a construction program assailed by an external audit for cost overruns, poor oversight, an abandoned three-for-one land-swap proposal and the awarding of construction contracts on what auditors called a non-competitive basis.

Station No. 11, in particular, was criticized for ballooning in size to 14,000 square feet from 10,500 square feet without clear authorization or council approval. It also increased in cost to $6.5 million from $4.2 million.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca