Mayoral candidate Gillingham vows to close the gaps in Winnipeg's active transportation network

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham will focus on improving transportation if he's elected next month.

On Sunday, Gillingham promised to eliminate gaps in sidewalk and cycling networks, upgrade the roadwork priority formula to be more equitable, create a government branch for active transportation planning and design and make changes to ensure safety features for pedestrians and cyclists are built as planned.

The pledge would mean an additional $13 million of spending on top of the city's existing active transportation capital budget of $11.9 million over three years. 

Active transportation pathways in Winnipeg have come a long way, but some end abruptly, leaving cyclists in the lurch, Gillingham said.

"We need to close those gaps," he said. "I think if we can make active transportation pathways that are safer, it'll give people more confidence to ride."

Gillingham has said any infrastructure financing will come from dedicated taxes and that he won't consider a property tax freeze.

Safety issue

The announcement came on the final day of ManyFest, a street festival along Broadway and Memorial Boulevard. One of the festival's features is a Bike Valet – a free service described as a coat check for bikes – staffed by volunteers.

Kashton Kaptein checked his bike after riding from Windsor Park to the University of Winnipeg for basketball practice and then over to Memorial Boulevard for the festival. He said the ride wasn't great.

"I gotta use sidewalks and then the road, but that's kind of unsafe because people in Winnipeg are bad drivers," he said.

It's that lack of connectivity that's a common complaint from city cyclists, said Mark Cohoe, the executive director of Bike Winnipeg, who was volunteering as a bike valet.  

A move to more active transportation would mean there would be fewer drivers on the road, plus it would be better for the climate and good for the economy, he said.

"When you're biking, you're catching into that local business, the money you're spending is staying in our local economy and recirculating through it, it's not going to gas and car parts," he said. "It's staying here and that makes a big difference." 

Gillingham is the third mayoral candidate to address ways of making Winnipeg more bike-friendly.

Shaun Loney has said he'll eliminate bike-registration fees, dedicate a police officer to fight bike theft, install secure public bike lockers and change city zoning rules to require new developments to include secure bike storage. 

Candidate Rick Shone has pledged a similar bike-registration plan to Loney's and promised to increase the city's annual spending on bike trails, sidewalk improvements and pedestrian trails. 

As a city councillor, Gillingham said he's supported active transportation plans that included pathways as part of road construction projects, but he noted that some of those pathways haven't been built. 

That's why his plan includes having two full-time city employees devoted to road safety and active transportation who would have the authority to withhold contractors' payment if active transportation features aren't completed. 

"This is an investment that we need to make in our infrastructure," he said.  

Gillingham, Loney and Shone are among the 15 people registered to run for mayor in the civic election on Oct. 26. The other candidates are Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Vincent Gabriele, Kevin Klein, Jenny Motkaluk, Glen Murray, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Jessica Peebles, Govind Thawani, Desmond Thomas and Don Woodstock.