Heavy construction on Winnipeg regional streets a consequence of funding: MHCA head

Winnipeggers may feel like the pace of road construction season hasn't let up as the fall season settles in.

The feeling that there is more construction this year than in the past may be due to where the work is happening, says the head of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association.

This year marks the end of a four-year, three-level funding agreement meant to accelerate renewal projects on regional streets, which carry 80 per cent of Winnipeg's traffic, said association president Chris Loenc in an interview with Marjorie Dowhos on Up to Speed.

"In addition to that, the city wisely, in our view, opted to proceed with projects that were larger in the scope in order to maximize on the program dollars that are available and provide in the long-term as little impact on traffic flow as possible," Lorenc said.

Jocelyne Brodeur Putschker says delays due to construction have made her late for work more than once.

"Everywhere I seem to go, even on the bus, there's construction everywhere and it's always delaying everybody," she told a CBC News reporter as she walked past a construction site along Goulet Street on Monday.

"Whether you're on a bus or in a car, you're being delayed."

Seasonal industry

Winnipeg typically has a six-month window when weather conditions permit road construction.

"We are a seasonal industry. We depend in part on Mother Nature as to when we can start and how long we can work into the fall months. So hopefully the weather will allow us to work until the end of October, perhaps mid-November," Lorenc said.

The Goulet Street rehabilitation project, and an accompanying reconstruction of Des Meurons Street, was not part of the accelerated program. It began in fall 2022 and is scheduled to be completed this month.

The project has proved challenging for Myron Bartok, who uses a walker to get around. He lives in an apartment on the north side of the street, and needs to get across to buy groceries from the nearby Safeway.

"It's just been terrible," he said, after coming out of the store with a bag of parsnips.

"It's just been getting worse and worse. They have been trying their best to alleviate the problems but it gets too much. I have to walk roughly two blocks, because I'm going down alleys, to get home and go to Safeway."

Sajjad Akhtar has lived in the neighbourhood for 10 years, and said the section of Goulet Street was in poor condition and would often flood during storms.

"Walking on the side, especially in the rain was very, very difficult for us," he said.

"Sometimes I wanted to fish there, like really, but now this construction will bring good changes."

The city had more than 200 road projects scheduled for this year, and the vast majority of them are complete or nearing completion, said public works committee chair Janice Lukes.

The Goulet Street project is more "complicated" than some others, because it involves installing a new bike lane. 

"Overall it's been a good construction season, but this is always the way it is, people will work right until the very end," she said in an interview.

Lukes says she understands the frustration of Winnipeg drivers, but when crews have the opportunity to continue working, as they have during what has been a relatively warm October, they will keep going until the frost hits. 

"It's almost over. And then we can talk snow."