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Globe and Mail
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Pedestrians reclaim Portage and Main as Winnipeg reopens the famed intersection after 46 years
History books will show that Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham was the first pedestrian in more than four decades to traverse between Portage Avenue and Main Street, finally reopening what is widely known as the crossroads of Canada to foot traffic after years of fervent debate. Well, kind of. Many others have routinely jaywalked across the downtown thoroughfares since 1979, when barricades were erected to prioritize the free flow of cars and trucks. People on foot have since been crossing illegally or using an underground concourse beneath the 16 lanes of traffic at the famed intersection, proximate to the longitudinal centre of the country. But on Friday, hundreds of eager residents beat Mr. Gillingham to his preplanned photo-op moment. With the buttery midmorning sun spotlighting their path, shrouds over the new walk signals were lifted, and the mayor became just one among a crowd of many to legally cross the road when the last remaining barriers were removed. He marked the occasion, as music blared, with a healthy dose of classically Winnipeg-flavoured sardonicism. 'When I was a kid growing up, playing hockey, idolizing Dale Hawerchuk, I dreamed of having my own press conference at Portage and Main,' Mr. Gillingham said to roaring laughter. 'This is very special,' he continued cheekily, speaking from a podium facing the intersection while pompoms were thrown in the air. 'Today, we're putting an end to 46 years of debating whether or not people should be allowed to cross the street.' On a more serious note, Mr. Gillingham acknowledged that getting to this point wasn't easy. The reopening has long been opposed by both city councillors and residents. 'We know that there's still more work to do. Work to improve safety, work to address homelessness, and work to drive economic growth downtown,' he said. 'But making the intersections more accessible and more connected helps move us in the right direction for everyone.' In fact, Mr. Gillingham himself was opposed to the reopening for years as a city councillor. He even stood against it during his 2022 mayoral election campaign. In 2018, his predecessor, Brian Bowman, had promised a reopening. But he backtracked after two-thirds of Winnipeggers (most of whom were from the city's suburbs) voted against it in a non-binding plebiscite. Ultimately, Mr. Gillingham's 180 about putting pedestrians back on the streets was a practical decision. Last year, a city report indicated that the intersection's underground concourse was significantly prone to leakage – costing around $73-million to repair, with up to five years of construction-induced traffic delays. The mayor told reporters he didn't have a definitive date to shutter the concourse, or a decision on whether it would be permanently or partially closed. While he spoke, Haley Yurman, who works at local coffee chain Empty Cup, one of several businesses housed in the underground walkway, waved a sign behind him: 'Still brewing one level down.' Ms. Yurman said she is unsure if her café will need to relocate. On Friday, dozens of long-standing community advocates showed up in full force to celebrate the milestone. Over the years, they had initiated campaign upon campaign to fight against urban planning that puts cars before people. Many drivers honk-honk-honked in support, as people took selfies atop the newly-established pedestrian refuge islands at the four corners of the intersection. Some commuters, however, honked out of anger, cussing at the event's attendees from their car and truck windows. 'I really never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. There's been so much resistance,' said Martina Kucey, shortly after making a jaunt across the walkways with her golden retrievers, Carter and Bishop. 'But here it is. It's finally happened. And I never want to see it go away.'
Winnipeg Free Press
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Opening of intersection proof that ‘Peg can change
Opinion Only in Winnipeg could something so ordinary — so pedestrian — as crossing the street become a historical event witnessed by hundreds. And yet, on Friday morning, that's exactly what happened. The day many Winnipeggers have been waiting — and hoping, advocating and voting — for had arrived: the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street, the Crossroads of Canada, the iconic, debated, maligned, politicized, romanticized heart of our city, was finally opened back up to pedestrians for the first time since its closure in 1979. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Several hundred members of the public and media gather for speeches for the official opening of the pedestrian crosswalks at the historic intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street in Winnipeg. I was born in 1985, so for longer than I've been alive, Portage and Main has been for cars, not people. Our most famous intersection became our most infamous — for its concrete, bunker-like barricades, for the almost comically convoluted way one had to get across it. For too long, the heart of our city was a hard, closed, inaccessible thing. And then, on a gorgeous morning in June, it opened — both ceremoniously and unceremoniously. Hours before the 'official' opening at 10:30 a.m. — before Mayor Scott Gillingham crossed Main Street to Randy Bachman's Portage and Main (the slow version) — when the pedestrian signals were still covered and the temporary barricades were still in place, people were, in fact, crossing Portage and Main. As if they've been doing it every morning. As if it were any morning. Office workers carrying takeout cups of coffee unknowingly made history by being among the first to traverse the freshly painted zebra crossings. A crew of construction workers in their neon safety vests crossed it — Abbey Road-style — to sweep away the remaining construction debris. It wasn't long before a large crowd formed to hear the mayor speak, filled with Winnipeggers eager to be part of their city's history. So large, in fact, it threatened to spill onto the streets and people had to be reminded to move away from the road. And then, there they were, without fanfare: walk symbols, illuminated, on Portage and Main. A thing like that. Every day and historic. Ordinary and extraordinary. Unremarkable and remarkable. Under a big blue Prairie sky, reflected in skyscraper glass, we didn't have to imagine a vibrant future for our downtown because, for the first time in a long time, we could actually see a glimpse of it. I suppose, technically, Portage and Main is just an intersection. But it's always been more than that — even when, for a long while, it felt like even less than that. Portage and Main has always represented vision and potential and possibility — both realized and unrealized. If historical editorial cartoons are any measure, people were as vociferously opposed to its closure in 1979 as they were to its reopening in 2018. Witnessing the reopening was a joyful, energizing experience, because Winnipeggers were excited to be in a place that, for so long, they really couldn't be — save for under very specific, usually Jets-related circumstances. There was applause and good-natured honking, hugs and shoulder-slaps. Business people and babies, dogs and bikes. Walking on Sunshine blaring from a speaker and sirens blaring from emergency vehicles because it's still a city centre, after all. A woman, positioned in full view of the bank of media cameras, held a bright green sign that simply read 'Finally!!!!' Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Portage and Main is just a starting point. There are other projects and plans that are changing the city. And that's just it: Portage and Main is proof that Winnipeg can, indeed, change. Under a big blue Prairie sky, reflected in skyscraper glass, we didn't have to imagine a vibrant future for our downtown because, for the first time in a long time, we could actually see a glimpse of it. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Mayor Scott Gillingham, along with several city council members and stakeholders, cross Main Street to mark the official opening of the pedestrian crosswalks. As the festivities wound down and the crowd started to disperse, Portage and Main began its new life as 'just an intersection' that will probably never look that clean again. But Friday showed us what's possible. Look toward any corner and you could see the parties and protests and pop-ups. The people. We wanted to be able to walk through Portage and Main, that's true. But maybe being there — actually being there — felt so good because now there's a place to be. Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
20 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Portage and Main reopens to pedestrians, marking 'historic moment' for Winnipeg
The shrouds were removed from the brand new walk signals at the intersection of Portage and Main on Friday morning and the remaining construction barricades hauled away, as 46 years of prohibited pedestrian crossings came to an end at Winnipeg's famous corner. "This is very, very special today. Today marks a historic moment," said Mayor Scott Gillingham, as a pedestrian walk light in the background turned on for one of the first times around 10:30 a.m. and a stream of people began crossing Main Street. "This intersection is important. It has been central to Winnipeg's history. It will remain vital to our community's future." It's been a long road to get to this point. Portage and Main was closed in February 1979 to pedestrians, who were redirected below ground through tunnels and a roundabout that linked to a subterranean shopping mall and access points at the four corners of the intersection. At street level, concrete ramparts were constructed to block people from the corners. There have been public opinion polls conducted since at least 1997 to gauge Winnipegger's thoughts on removing the barricades, which have always resulted in two-thirds being opposed. But council voted last year to reopen the intersection, after learning the bill to fix infrastructure issues, particularly a membrane under the road that weatherproofs the underground concourse, would be $73 million and create up to five years of traffic delays. Construction on the reopening took approximately eight months, and is expected to come in under the budget of $21.27 million, the city said in a Friday news release. "It's fantastic. It's about time. It's about damn time," Gabriel Langlois — better known as Dancing Gabe, a fervent city booster — said about the reopening. Langlois showed up four hours before the intersection officially reopened, raising a sign with the words "Make Portage and Main great again" surrounded by logos for all the city's professional sports teams and several Canadian flag stickers. "Oh, I love it. It's great," said Nolan Mizeracki, who was crossing Portage Avenue E. around 8 a.m., well before the official opening. "I've been doing this for a week now, ever since they had the [crosswalk lines] painting all ready to go," he said. But with the actual walk signals still covered and no countdown visible, Mizeracki was guessing at how much time he had. Once the shrouds were removed, the time of about 30 seconds was clear. Until he started crossing on Monday, Mizeracki had been using the underground, "but it was so awful after work, around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Sometimes you just don't feel safe," he said. Dennis Olinyk cycled from the East Kildonan neighbourhood, thinking the intersection would be open first thing in the morning, but was more than three hours early. Crews were still sprucing up the corners, washing windows and sweeping gravel when he arrived. Despite watching several people go around the few remaining barricades, Olinyk refused to cross until it was officially allowed, but he planned to then take it all in. "I figured I'd go through every corner," he said. 'Stupidest thing ever' Not everyone was pleased with the changes, though. "It's the stupidest thing ever," said Trevor Kopp, who was behind the wheel of a dump truck at the Portage Avenue E. traffic light. Kopp argued pedestrian crossing will slow traffic too much, echoing concerns raised by others in polls and a 2018 plebiscite on reopening. "Now you gotta wait for all the people to go back and forth, back and forth," he said. But when asked if he really thinks it'll make that much of a difference, he responded, "I don't know — maybe not. Guess we'll see." As part of the redesign, some lanes of traffic have been altered. Vehicles can no longer turn right from Main Street onto Portage Avenue E., while those on eastbound Portage now have three left-turn lanes onto northbound Main, and only one lane to go straight across. Sabrina Janke and Alex Judge, hosts of the One Great History podcast and authors of the upcoming book, Portage and Main: How an Iconic Intersection Shaped Winnipeg's History, Politics, and Urban Life, were also among those celebrating the transformation of what has been nicknamed the crossroads of the country, for its proximity to the longitudinal centre of Canada. "It's really exciting to see it actually happen," said Janke, who was working near the intersection in 2018 when the reopening plebiscite resulted in a 65 per cent "no" vote. "I remember standing at 201 Portage and looking at the Bank of Montreal [at that time kitty-corner from 201] and being like, 'It would be nice if I could just walk across to that.'" There's something about Portage and Main that's magnetic to Winnipeggers, said Judge, who surmises it's because the city doesn't have a public square, like in many other major centres. Instead, Portage and Main has become where Winnipeggers have gathered for various reasons, whether in celebration or protest. "Portage and Main, just sort of being at the centre, being somewhere that you can be seen, I think has just become that public square by default," Judge said. In spite of Friday's hoopla and grand statements, though, a simple reopening is not going to be a panacea for all of the downtown's ills, Janke said. "But I think it is a step forward in planning a downtown that's more for the people that live and work here," she said. "Planning for a space that people should exist in and be seen in is really important." While Friday's focus was above ground, some also said it's important to remember that Winnipeg Square, the subterranean commercial mall connected to the tunnels, is still open. "We're very excited about Portage and Main opening up," said Haley Yurman with Empty Cup Collective, a locally owned coffee company that has a location in the underground. "We're definitely excited about encouraging the growth of downtown, but we're also wanting to remind people that the businesses underground are still there [and] want their support as well." There are no plans for the mall to close as long as the circus — the roundabout that connects the tunnels like a wheel hub — remains open. Coun. Jeff Browaty, who chairs city council's finance and economic development committee, told CBC earlier this year the city will keep it open and maintained for now, given there's no immediate threat of it collapsing nor a need to close it immediately due to its deterioration.
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Pedestrians are back: Portage and Main set to reopen to foot traffic today
Watch a timelapse of the construction at Portage and Main to reopen the intersection to pedestrians Why did the Winnipegger cross the road? Well for the past 46 years they couldn't – at least not at Portage and Main. But on Friday that is all about to change. The City of Winnipeg will be holding a ceremony Friday at 10:30 a.m. to officially reopen the famed intersection to foot traffic. CTV News will be live-streaming the event. Crossing at Portage and Main was a common occurrence in Winnipeg all the way into the 1970s. But in 1976 the city signed a deal to open a retail space underground, which in turn would move pedestrian traffic there as well. In 1979, the underground concourse was completed, and pedestrians were no longer allowed to cross the intersection. There was a bit of life for the intersection in 2018 when a plebiscite was held asking Winnipeggers if they wanted to reopen the street or not. It was defeated with 65 per cent opposed reopening it, compared to 35 per cent in favour. Then-Mayor Brian Bowman said the city would honour the results of the plebiscite. However, talk of removing the barriers and bringing pedestrians back didn't go away. A motion was brought forward in 2023 to once again allow people to cross the road, and in March of 2024, Mayor Scott Gillingham announced the intersection would reopen. Construction work started at the end of 2024 with a goal of having Portage and Main open again by the summer of 2025. CTV News will update this story.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Portage and Main to reopen to pedestrians for first time in 46 years Friday
A pedestrian walks across the Portage and Main on June 23, 2025, days before the intersection is set to officially reopen. (Jeff Keele/CTV News Winnipeg) The barricades are gone, the crosswalks are painted, and Portage and Main is set to officially reopen to pedestrians for the first time in 46 years on Friday. 'I think there's a lot of curiosity right now,' said Downtown Biz CEO Kate Fenske. The project to transform the intersection began last November. Mayor Scott Gillingham and city council voted for the opening as cost estimates predicted it would be cheaper than fixing the existing underground concourse. 'We have to ask ourselves a question, what decision do Winnipeggers 20 years from now need us to make today,' said Gillingham. It appears some pedestrians aren't waiting until Friday. As of Monday, temporary roadblocks were in place blocking access to the crosswalks. CTV News observed several people walking around them and crossing the intersection, which is not yet safe to do so as the proper traffic signals are not yet operational. John Chabot was one of those impatient pedestrians. 'I'm going to walk across here even though I'm not supposed to,' said Chabot. Chabot visits Winnipeg a few times a year and said it's about time he can walk across. 'It's a bit of a pain to go underneath all of the time or walk a couple blocks down to get over it,' he said. '(This) just makes it a little more easier.' Many pedestrians agree, Friday is long overdue. Still some people have safety concerns about mixing cars and pedestrians at the busy intersection. Others question how this will impact traffic flow. 'I'm on the fence, we'll see how much time it takes because this is my regular commute,' said one driver. The opening is in lockstep with another major change, the new transit system goes into effect Sunday.
