Riverwalk changes possible, would cost 'serious money', architect says

The architect that designed Winnipeg's riverwalk and boat dock at the Forks 25 years ago says that in hindsight, they were trying to defy mother nature with its method of construction. 

"Hindsight probably tells us that maybe we were trying to stare in the face of nature more aggressively than maybe us simple folks on two legs should do. There's always that 20/20 hindsight," Steve Cohlmeyer, president of Cohlmeyer Architecture. 

In the last five years, there has only been one year the riverwalk has been open for the entirety of a summer — and it is closed now with no word as to when it will be reopened. 

Cohlmeyer told CBC's Information Radio that prior to starting construction on the riverwalk, water levels of the 80 years prior were studied, yet unfortunately rising water levels now are not consistent with what was seen at that time. 

Adapting the riverwalk

As seen in European cities like Paris and London, pedestrian walkways can be maintained on the edges of rivers and Cohlmeyer said that would be possible in Winnipeg but it would cost "serious money," in the millions he estimated, to pay for the riverwalk's renewal. 

"The reality is we can do it, we can do anything we want," he said. "If the economic demand was strong enough, or the political will was strong enough, one could do it."

"Each alternative is one that could lead to solution but each one brings it's own puzzle," Cohlmeyer said Thursday. 

Cohlmeyer said that when the riverwalk was built many experts were consulted but a climatologist wasn't one of them, something that is becoming increasingly important with waterfront work. He said that his firm is working on some waterfront property in B.C. and his team is already having to re-plan work they did a few years ago because ocean levels are rising more quickly than expected.

Using the floodway

On Wednesday, City Councillor Jenny Gerbasi told CBC's Up to Speed that she thinks the province should employ the floodway to save downtown's riverwalk in the summer. Something that Premier Greg Selinger had promised to do back in 2009. 

• Gerbasi says chronically flooded riverwalk sinks Winnipeg's bottom line

"One of the many options being discussed is a new operating rule for the floodway to allow summer operation solely to keep the Forks river walkway open," the province said Thursday in an email. 

Contemplation of this operation has to consider other communities on the river, wildlife and subsequent wear caused to the floodway itself, the province said. 

Approval for the floodway's use to stop the riverwalk's flooding would need to be reviewed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Transport Canada, and Infrastructure Canada.