St. Mary’s Road parking limits considered

Proposed parking restrictions on St. Mary’s Road will allow quicker trips for emergency vehicles through some bottlenecks, but would reduce parking spaces during peak travel periods.

A proposal calls for several new “no parking” restrictions to be added at sections of the key route, between Fermor Avenue and Abinojii Mikanah (formerly Bishop Grandin Boulevard), especially during the morning and afternoon rush periods.

“I’m actually very pleased with the report. It came out of a motion I made… (after) a firefighter said to me (that crews) sometimes can’t get north on St. Mary’s because traffic’s blocked and there’s one car (parked) in the right-hand lane,” said Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

Mayes said the changes avoid most of the area within the boundaries of the Old St. Vital Business Improvement Zone, where additional parking restrictions could impede access to businesses.

“This seemed a good compromise between improved traffic flow and still respecting the businesses,” he said.

Mayes believes this affected area has fewer businesses and would be less affected by that issue.

If council’s public works committee approves, new “no stopping” restrictions will be added as follows: from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on northbound St. Mary’s Road from Dunkirk Drive/Dakota Street to Fermor Avenue (in areas without current restrictions); from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on two-lane portions of southbound St. Mary’s Road from Dunkirk Drive/Dakota Street to Fermor Avenue (in areas without current restrictions); from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on southbound St. Mary’s Road from Moore Avenue to Parkville Drive; and anytime on northbound St. Mary’s Road from Glen Avenue to Fermor Avenue.

A current 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. peak period no-stopping restriction on southbound St. Mary’s from Dunkirk Drive/Dakota Street to Fermor Avenue would also be extended to apply from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

City staff would review parking and stopping rules along portions of St. Mary’s between Fermor Avenue and Marion Street (northbound and southbound) and report back on them in about five months.

St. Mary’s is a busy truck, bus and snow route at points, where traffic volumes can “greatly exceed” 200 vehicles per 15 minutes during peak travel periods, a city report notes.

Parking restrictions can be imposed to add capacity and/or make routes safer, it states.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works, said she expects to support the proposed changes.

“Emergency services are really important… It’s difficult (with heavy traffic). If there’s nowhere to go, there’s nowhere to go,” said Lukes (Waverley West).

While she suspects some drivers may complain about lost parking spaces, Lukes believes the benefits of adding the restrictions would outweigh the inconvenience.

“We have to think of safety first,” she said.

Nancy Cooke, president of the board for the Old St. Vital BIZ, said just a few of the organization’s members would be affected by the new parking limits, which are not concerning at first glance.

“We are in the process of reaching out to all of our members, and, particularly, the member businesses that are (in that area), to just make sure that they’re aware and… (determine) concerns they might have,” said Cooke.

In an email, city spokesman David Driedger said new parking restrictions should provide some benefit to traffic flow but congestion will still occur on St. Mary’s after the changes, since a lot of delay takes place at intersections with traffic signals.

Driedger noted delay to emergency vehicles was “not explicitly considered” as part of the proposal.

“(Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service) crews are challenged when responding along all roadways with high-traffic flows. This issue is not unique to this section of St. Mary’s Road. We are unable to provide response time data for this specific area/roadway,” he wrote.

Council’s public works committee will cast a final vote on the changes on April 14.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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