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On November 28th, Landmark Planning and Design along with WSP and Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure held a second round of engagement around the functional design study of PTH 1 and PTH 5 intersection improvements. This is the location where in June of last year, a collision between a semi-truck and a handi-transit bus left 17 dead.

Rrain Prior – Initiative de journalisme local

Unlike the first open house held a few months ago, which presented some preliminary information in a visual format and sought public contributions through surveys and one-on-one conversations, this time there was an open forum for members of the public to voice their questions or express their thoughts about the options and the project as a whole.

Donovan Toews of Landmark Planning & Design clearly set out the goals of the public consultation. “We want to make the decision fully informed, and we can’t be fully informed unless we understand everything there is to understand. We don’t need engineering expertise. We have that. We won’t be asking for a  vote of what to do. But your local understanding of the situation is helpful.”

While there were some logistical questions, the predominating response from the audience was that the community would not be satisfied with anything less than a set of stoplights and a speed reduction, and that an overpass would be preferred. There are several other considerations when it comes to those options, however, and the presentation demonstrated that traffic signals and speed reductions in the wrong place can actually decrease safety rather than increase it.

No decisions have been made yet about the future of the intersection, but several options were presented along with their pros and cons. In the next stage of the planning, the preferred options will be developed in more detail.

Following the presentation and the Q&A session, we also spoke with Dustin Booy, executive director of highway engineering for Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure, to expand on some of the topics that came up during the consultation, particularly on the contentious and often misunderstood issue of speed limits and traffic signals.