The Saskatchewan Avenue Omand’s Creek Bridge is slated for replacement in 2016. The City is hosting an open house to get public feedback on the bridges replacement. There is a $3 million budget for the project.

When: Thursday September 10^th from 6pm to 8 pm
Where: St. Thomas Anglican Church, 1567 William Avenue West.

The bridge is just off of the proposed bicycle network, where Saskatchewan Avenue serves as a connector between north/south bike routes along Keewatin/Berry/Sherwin and Empress. Unlike the Keewatin/Berry/Sherwin route, the Empress route seems to dead end at Saskatchewan on the proposed bicycle network. As Bike Winnipeg has pointed out in our Northwest Hydro Corridor Greenway proposal, the city should be striving to make a connection to Empress from the Northwest Hydro Corridor Greenway that will go into design phase this fall.

High Quality Connectivity along Saskatchewan Avenue is Needed to Achieve a Well Connected Bicycle Network

The basic route for this would be:

• Cross the CPR rail lines via a new AT bridge over the rail lines just west of McPhillips or along an improved AT path within the McPhillips underpass
• An off road pathway linking the CPR AT Bridge/Underpass to the corner of Yeomen & Logan or Winks & Logan
• Cross Logan at Yeomen or Winks facilitated by a new Half Signal
• South along Winks to Alexander
• West along Alexander to the CPR La Riviere Rail Line
• South along a new Rail with Trail path on the west side of the CPR La Riviere Rail Line
• Northwest on Winnipeg Ave West to Flint
• Southwest on Flint to Notre Dame where there is an existing traffic signal
• Connect Midland to Flint – a short protected bike lane installation on the median or south side of Notre Dame would be a potential way to make this connection.
• South on protected bike lanes along Midland
• East on Saskatchewan to Empress, with the option of biking through Westview Park, where we hope that you would eventually be able to cross the rail line via an AT bridge that would connect you to Wellington Avenue.

Worth noting:

• Empress is slated for a full rehabilitation between Jack Blick Ave and St. Mathews in 2017
• Protected Bike Lanes are proposed for Empress in the City’s Bicycle Network Plan