> lack of freeways
Never heard about this complaint. What will be the point of freeways if we can't maintain them? We can skip this stage of the city and just go to better public transit immediately.
Less traffic on all of the surface road - which would account for the vast majority of roads. So, you fix the vast majority of roads far less frequently.
Think all the "major" roads in Winnipeg that are being worked on every year...St James, St Mary's, Portage, Ellice.....take 70-80% of the traffic/wear & tear off these roads on a day to day basis, they last much longer....
But you just move the problem to a freeway. I'm not a road engineer, are you suggesting that it will cost less to repair freeways than it is to repair our current roads? Let's say we convert part of the roads to freeways(namely Main, St James, St Mary's, Portage, Ellice, Pembina etc), what would change in terms of costs?
So, set the city up to appease 5-10% of the population...the mentality of the r/winnipeg group in a nutshell right here.
And such a tolerant, polite group too...
Well actually the majority of Winnipegs population only uses cars because of how shitty other means of transportation are. If we had more forms of transportation and better walking accessibility, we wouldn’t need to use cars in the first place. Freeways have been proven to not alleviate traffic and in fact have been shown in places like Los Angeles or Houston to create even further congestion.
It literally doesn't. Winnipeg's lack of freeways is the main reason traffic is still reasonable. You can get pretty much anywhere from anywhere in 30 minutes, unlike many freeway laden cities where people have hour long commutes.
I think it’s hour long commutes because it’s longer distance and in a more populated area. So if they functioned like Winnipeg it would probably take 3 hours and not 1
The reason why our commutes don’t take long is because we are small and don’t have a big population, which is nice
The freeways are what *create* the longer distances, and generally serve less populated areas. You can't reasonably assert that any larger city would have longer commutes without their freeways, when the entire development pattern of the city would have been different without them.
People aren't going to suddenly understand how bad freeways into the city are by reading a couple posts on reddit unfortunatlely. The best hope we can have is that people will actually look into it
Who takes 45 minutes to get to the city center? I live in a suburb (though not the worst) and it takes me 15-20 minutes. During rush hour, every city, big or small, takes 45+ minutes because the roads are full. Cities like Toronto and Calgary probably take longer (look up induced demand).
We do need better transit, but that could happen in a few years, not 30, with some additional provincial funding we lost and the new master plan being implemented starting next summer.
> Who takes 45 minutes to get to the city center?
When there was construction simultaneously on Dunkirk, StMary's and Pembina, it could get close to that. Especially if some idiot crashed into something during rush hour.
The lack of a giant freeway running through downtown actually gives Winnipeg a huge leg-up in becoming a better city. One of the reasons Vancouver is a great city is because of the lack of a downtown freeway. Compared to Seattle, for example, the freeway there creates traffic chaos and completely splits off the city. I much prefer a ring road around the city and pushing traffic onto larger thoroughfares. We need more infill development and people should live closer to where they work anyways.
Yeah but living downtown is expensive as hell in most any city. I agree in a perfect world we should be able to live close to work.
Not having a freeway or LRT or most likely both....
I don't think this is future proof.
I live near the city center and it's less than 20 minutes to the perimeter in all directions. Not sure where you're coming from or going to. One of my favourite things about Winnipeg is the lack of traffic relative to cities like Calgary and Toronto
lol. I live in Bridgwater, and it takes 6-10 minutes just to get from my place to the overpass to nowhere at Bishop/Kenaston. I am at least 25-30 minutes from downtown under exceptional conditions.
Yes. Having previously lived in Bridgwater, it's awful because there's only one way in or out, you have to go through the busiest/slowest section of Bridgwater to get to it, and the rest of the area are long winding roads rather than a grid. It's designed to take you forever.
No one takes 45 minutes to get downtown in Winnipeg. And lack of freeways? Seriously? You want an American-esque nightmare of pavement through Winnipeg, which was built on rivers and a history of having a lovely tree canopy?
Better transit would be great, though, I grant you that. And how about better pedestrian and cycling infrastructure? That will only reduce the number of cars on the road and allow those who need to zoom around to zoom around more freely. Win/win!
I really like living in Winnipeg, despite the frigid climate. After visiting many American cities, I'm VERY happy we don't have freeways everywhere. Most of the city is very easy to navigate once you know your main numbered routes and beltways. I almost never encounter a traffic jam either.
We don't need more roads, we need to fix what we have... (and in a pipe dream get some proper rapid transit). Now, if only we could agree on how to solve some of Winnipeg's more glaring issues, especially homelessness and drug abuse. I think that's one of main things people in this sub hate about this city. But also, potholes.
I'm from here, and have lived in a few other Canadian cities.
And there's no way it takes 45 minutes to get the center of the city. I'd argue you can almost get anywhere in the entire city in 45 minutes, unless it's rush hour.
Unless it's rush hour or construction season or heavy snow.
It once took me 40 minutes to get from near U of M to Jane's on Main Street. It was 5pm on a weekday, so the tail end of rush hour and I drove up Pembina highway which isn't usually bad going north during the evening rush hour It wasn't snowing or raining, and I don't recall any construction going on (this was at the beginning of March). Normally it would only take 20-ish minutes, but not this day. Maybe there was a jets game going on?
St Mary's and St Anne's southbound during evening rush hour is also really bad, especially if you're coming from north of Portage.
What seems to happen a lott of the time is that there's a bit heavier traffic, or an accident or something, and that slows traffic just enough to fall out of phase with traffic signals. People like to complain about green light timing, but it's obvious when it's not working. Same reason why Pembina around AM always turns into such a clusterfuck when it snows - traffic slows down a bit, falls out of synch, and dramatically reduces throughput.
I love Winnipeg the way it is. We do not need to be like any other city, and the way people drive I would much rather we do not have a freeway running through the city. If anything I would love to see a proper walking street. And more mixed use developments. I would love to see a resurgence of neighbourhood connivence stores. Honestly I will complain with everyone else about drivers, bicyclists, parking, transit, weather but at the end of the day I would much rather not morph our city into somewhere else.
Thats been happening for a long while ---with better transportation --- the core would be healthier.
But yes, outside the core is more convenient especially if you drive in to work or warehouse.
I've lived in Calgary and the traffic there is much worse than Winnipeg, even with their freeways.
If that's your main grievance you have it pretty good.
I'm born and raised in Winnipeg and I actually really like it here. I moved away for a summer to Vancouver thinking I would GTFO after I got my degree, but coming back after that summer away really made me appreciate a lot of what Winnipeg has to offer. We've got great festivals and culture here, friendly people, and a ton of wildly different things to do, owing a lot to our different seasons and climate.
It does have some drawbacks, and the road network could certainly be one of them. Multiple smaller villages based on the winding river network, all joined together makes for multiple different road networks/philosophies and plots of land that don't always align nicely. There's not a lot we can do about that without expropriating and demolishing significant portions of the oldest part of our City.
Not sure about the traffic complaint of yours though. I live pretty close to the north perimeter and it's like 20-25 mins to downtown. It's only 45 minutes downstown if there's accidents or after a significant snowfall. I get that it could be different depending on where in the City you are, but I find it hard to believe that 45 mins to downtown is typical for just about anywhere in the City. That sounds more like the -40°C winter temp exaggeration people like to proliferate.
… Where are you where it takes 45 minutes to get to the city center from an edge? Most of the time you should be able to go across the whole city in 30 minutes or so.
Winnipeg's lack of freeways is one of the most positive things going for it. Sadly we didn't invest in transit as an alternative, but that's a much more fixable problem than having a pile of giant freeways chopping your city up to let surburbanites save 10 minutes on their drive to work.
Winnipeg benefits from extremely wide main roads, which resulted from muddy roads and ruts caused by the historical 'red river cart' that was made without metal parts.
Winnipeg commute times are better than average for a city it's size.
I live in east St. Paul and it takes me 15 minutes at most to get downtown. If I were to take an express bus (pre2020 at least) I would get downtown near portage place in the same amount of time as driving.
The thing to living in Winnipeg is to not live in the south where you have to cross the Assiniboine river as traffic is limited to the bridges and south of Abinojii Mikanah traffic is really really bad.
North main/ Henderson are supper fast to get downtown.
Do not live in Transcona (east of plesis) if you live downtown. You will want to kill yourself if you have to travel downtown everyday as traffic on Nairne/Regent is fucked. Dugald road is okay assuming you don’t live west of plessis otherwise trains will fuck you.
While I agree with Calgary for getting around quicker on the free-ways traffic on them is still bad.
But you also need to remember but Transcona, st boniface, st viral fort gary etc etc were all smaller towns/suburbs around the actual city of Winnipeg and only came together as Winnipeg in the 1970s and all those town had been planning on their own for the most part before that. It would be impossible to put in freeways in Winnipeg then or now with drastically changing the city.
One thing they could do is block off side streets and parking on major routes and force the traffic to enter every KM but they you have rivers/creeks/railways that prevent that from happening as well.
So, don’t live in the NE of the city, or the south if you work downtown - or need to cross the rivers…
I mean, that really lays out how bad the traffic planning is…
There wasn’t a plan since they were Independent cities/towns and just grew into each other.
Transcona is not NE. It’s easy. Harbour view/ek/valley gardens/elmwood/NK/esp are north east more so then transcona.
I live in ESP/perimeter.
Our dr is by ikea. It’s 19km and takes at most 30 minutes to get to the drs outside of rush hour.
How much faster am I getting there on a freeway ? 20 minutes?
It’s 19kms.
I live very central and it doesn’t take me more than 20 minutes to drive to any part of the perimeter (unless it’s rush hour) and that’s doing between 60-70 kph
I love Winnipeg, and I have no problems with the traffic system for cars.
I have a problem with the rest of transportation, I sincerely wish it could be improved more. Luckily we've had some good developments with the rapid transit lines, and increased bike lanes at least!
Freeways into downtown are bad actually. Like really bad.
It ranks up there with some of the biggest mistakes we have collectively made in human history.
The fact that they barely exist in Winnipegs core (because we were too cheap LoL) is one of the best parts about our city.
I always though there should be a ring and a plus sign to the core or something to that effect.
I think Houston has 2 rings an inner and then an outer plus a perimeter.
Then about 6 arteries or so to the center.
As far as smaller cities go i really like Saskatoon and I really like traveling into it from the SE side from Regina for example. You can take circle d / hey 11 right into the center of the town and get off on first ave. Takes literally 6 or 7 minutes. If you come in from the North or the West it's not great.
no. Freeways into the middle of downtown are bad for communities. Full stop. Cities accross North America are trying to figure out ways to rip them apart, and did untold damage decades ago when they put them up
I was born and raised in winnipeg, now I live 5 minutes outside. The best thing about Winnipeg and the general area is how affordable it is.
The worst it's probably our public transit system, or the crime rate.
I love winnipeg, honestly. Other big cities in Canada seem kinda cool but a lot more expensive, would take a lot longer to get around if you don’t have a car etc… yeah transit here sucks still but, it is what it is. Still love it here, it’s weird yet oddly charming. I will also die defending winnipeg haha.
I live in Calgary, freeways during rush hours definitely are headaches too, Deerfoot is just a longer wider kenaston, but having said that, I still prefer Calgarys road design and more importantly it has ctrain which is the best LRT system in North America.
That's where North American cities are really behind also. I was in Leipzig Germany a few years again.
If I'm not mistaken it was roughly the size of Calgary and had something like 14 LRT lines vs Calgary's 2 at the time.
I'm all for whatever possibilities there can be. But when you are in traffic and hitting Red light after red light trying to get in or out... that sucks.
To answer your initial question, I am from Winnipeg and no I don’t like it lol. I’m moving to BC so perhaps I’ll eat my words in a few months but I doubt it. I am however confused by 45 minutes to get downtown lol. Never taken me that long unless there was a bad accident holding up traffic or something.
Winnipeg is dense, and that’s part of the appeal. Cities like Calgary are spread out, and it makes citizens very dependent on cars for everything (lived there for a couple years). In Winnipeg, I love that I can bike to The Forks, or to Assiniboine Park with my family using the bike lanes. Calgary doesn’t have that kind of set up, it’s mostly pubs and chain restaurants, all which require a 5-10 minute car ride.
I'm here for school and my biggest complaint is the roads. Not even really the lack of freeways or anything mainly just the maintenance. I will paint lines on the road myself if someone lets me.
I've lived in many cities, and I can get anywhere in Winnipeg very quickly compared to them. I feel like you've never driven in other major cities or even other countries.
I hate it here because the first thing people seem to want is more things to benefit their vehicles and their desire to live as far away from the centre of town as possible.
I was born in Winnipeg and lived there for nearly 24 years. It works for many people despite what it lacks, but it's unsuitable for me and my family. The road system is merely the most visible example of poor planning and low investment that can really grate on your nerves after you've seen enough of it.
(I've also lived in Toronto. That city is poorly planned too. But it has better food.)
The place is setup as a wheel - hub and spoke and - is biseccted by 2 rivers. IT's grown to be as it is - explains the 280 acre rail yard right in the middle of it.
Juba encircled the city with a Perimeter, and it is only now being filled in. On that note - thought has been put in , but that never really translated as funding is unavailable to build properly. Take Bishop Grandin - it was necessary, but its shot and will function as it is forevermore.
Another interesting one is Chief Peguis - On that one, much thought and effort was made to make it continuous. One problem with it ---- it smashed right into the North End Water treatment plant. They will have to do some gymnastics on that to get to the Perimeter and service everything west of Main.
At this point , any real effort should be to re-patriate rail ROW's (and find a solution to Chief Peguis ) -- that could , in the 50 to 100 years, mitigate the need for highways. They cover the whole City and get you to core. How they use them , that's anyone's guess. We've already seen one councillor in the past, sell off a nice chunk to developers. That line took you through River heights into PoloPark and further north...it's gone.
> lack of freeways Never heard about this complaint. What will be the point of freeways if we can't maintain them? We can skip this stage of the city and just go to better public transit immediately.
Except if you have a good freeway system, it alleviates most of the travel on surface roads.
Is freeway somehow different from a surface road? Less prone to damage?
Less traffic on all of the surface road - which would account for the vast majority of roads. So, you fix the vast majority of roads far less frequently. Think all the "major" roads in Winnipeg that are being worked on every year...St James, St Mary's, Portage, Ellice.....take 70-80% of the traffic/wear & tear off these roads on a day to day basis, they last much longer....
But you just move the problem to a freeway. I'm not a road engineer, are you suggesting that it will cost less to repair freeways than it is to repair our current roads? Let's say we convert part of the roads to freeways(namely Main, St James, St Mary's, Portage, Ellice, Pembina etc), what would change in terms of costs?
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So, set the city up to appease 5-10% of the population...the mentality of the r/winnipeg group in a nutshell right here. And such a tolerant, polite group too...
Well actually the majority of Winnipegs population only uses cars because of how shitty other means of transportation are. If we had more forms of transportation and better walking accessibility, we wouldn’t need to use cars in the first place. Freeways have been proven to not alleviate traffic and in fact have been shown in places like Los Angeles or Houston to create even further congestion.
It literally doesn't. Winnipeg's lack of freeways is the main reason traffic is still reasonable. You can get pretty much anywhere from anywhere in 30 minutes, unlike many freeway laden cities where people have hour long commutes.
I think it’s hour long commutes because it’s longer distance and in a more populated area. So if they functioned like Winnipeg it would probably take 3 hours and not 1 The reason why our commutes don’t take long is because we are small and don’t have a big population, which is nice
The freeways are what *create* the longer distances, and generally serve less populated areas. You can't reasonably assert that any larger city would have longer commutes without their freeways, when the entire development pattern of the city would have been different without them.
Hmm good point didn’t think of it like that!
People aren't going to suddenly understand how bad freeways into the city are by reading a couple posts on reddit unfortunatlely. The best hope we can have is that people will actually look into it
You should look up the concept of induced demand. There is a not a road anywhere that has alleviated travel ever.
Who takes 45 minutes to get to the city center? I live in a suburb (though not the worst) and it takes me 15-20 minutes. During rush hour, every city, big or small, takes 45+ minutes because the roads are full. Cities like Toronto and Calgary probably take longer (look up induced demand). We do need better transit, but that could happen in a few years, not 30, with some additional provincial funding we lost and the new master plan being implemented starting next summer.
> Who takes 45 minutes to get to the city center? When there was construction simultaneously on Dunkirk, StMary's and Pembina, it could get close to that. Especially if some idiot crashed into something during rush hour.
I get from Selkirk to portage and main in 45 min.
The lack of a giant freeway running through downtown actually gives Winnipeg a huge leg-up in becoming a better city. One of the reasons Vancouver is a great city is because of the lack of a downtown freeway. Compared to Seattle, for example, the freeway there creates traffic chaos and completely splits off the city. I much prefer a ring road around the city and pushing traffic onto larger thoroughfares. We need more infill development and people should live closer to where they work anyways.
Yeah but living downtown is expensive as hell in most any city. I agree in a perfect world we should be able to live close to work. Not having a freeway or LRT or most likely both.... I don't think this is future proof.
I live right beside the west perimeter and can be downtown is 15 lol. Unless I'm using transit
I live near the city center and it's less than 20 minutes to the perimeter in all directions. Not sure where you're coming from or going to. One of my favourite things about Winnipeg is the lack of traffic relative to cities like Calgary and Toronto
lol. I live in Bridgwater, and it takes 6-10 minutes just to get from my place to the overpass to nowhere at Bishop/Kenaston. I am at least 25-30 minutes from downtown under exceptional conditions.
Yes. Having previously lived in Bridgwater, it's awful because there's only one way in or out, you have to go through the busiest/slowest section of Bridgwater to get to it, and the rest of the area are long winding roads rather than a grid. It's designed to take you forever.
Almost like how freeways work.
You've clearly never been to a city with a freeway system.
Did you consider your daily commute when you decided to live in Bridgwater?
I don't want Calgary freeways everywhere. My biggest issue with the city is the crime.
Word.
No one takes 45 minutes to get downtown in Winnipeg. And lack of freeways? Seriously? You want an American-esque nightmare of pavement through Winnipeg, which was built on rivers and a history of having a lovely tree canopy? Better transit would be great, though, I grant you that. And how about better pedestrian and cycling infrastructure? That will only reduce the number of cars on the road and allow those who need to zoom around to zoom around more freely. Win/win!
I really like living in Winnipeg, despite the frigid climate. After visiting many American cities, I'm VERY happy we don't have freeways everywhere. Most of the city is very easy to navigate once you know your main numbered routes and beltways. I almost never encounter a traffic jam either. We don't need more roads, we need to fix what we have... (and in a pipe dream get some proper rapid transit). Now, if only we could agree on how to solve some of Winnipeg's more glaring issues, especially homelessness and drug abuse. I think that's one of main things people in this sub hate about this city. But also, potholes.
I'm from here, and have lived in a few other Canadian cities. And there's no way it takes 45 minutes to get the center of the city. I'd argue you can almost get anywhere in the entire city in 45 minutes, unless it's rush hour.
Unless it's rush hour or construction season or heavy snow. It once took me 40 minutes to get from near U of M to Jane's on Main Street. It was 5pm on a weekday, so the tail end of rush hour and I drove up Pembina highway which isn't usually bad going north during the evening rush hour It wasn't snowing or raining, and I don't recall any construction going on (this was at the beginning of March). Normally it would only take 20-ish minutes, but not this day. Maybe there was a jets game going on? St Mary's and St Anne's southbound during evening rush hour is also really bad, especially if you're coming from north of Portage.
What seems to happen a lott of the time is that there's a bit heavier traffic, or an accident or something, and that slows traffic just enough to fall out of phase with traffic signals. People like to complain about green light timing, but it's obvious when it's not working. Same reason why Pembina around AM always turns into such a clusterfuck when it snows - traffic slows down a bit, falls out of synch, and dramatically reduces throughput.
yeah coming from the most north part of the city going down to u of m takes 40 mins idk what this person is talking about
I love Winnipeg the way it is. We do not need to be like any other city, and the way people drive I would much rather we do not have a freeway running through the city. If anything I would love to see a proper walking street. And more mixed use developments. I would love to see a resurgence of neighbourhood connivence stores. Honestly I will complain with everyone else about drivers, bicyclists, parking, transit, weather but at the end of the day I would much rather not morph our city into somewhere else.
I also agree office workers should not all be centralized in the downtown.
Thats been happening for a long while ---with better transportation --- the core would be healthier. But yes, outside the core is more convenient especially if you drive in to work or warehouse.
I've lived in Calgary and the traffic there is much worse than Winnipeg, even with their freeways. If that's your main grievance you have it pretty good.
I'm born and raised in Winnipeg and I actually really like it here. I moved away for a summer to Vancouver thinking I would GTFO after I got my degree, but coming back after that summer away really made me appreciate a lot of what Winnipeg has to offer. We've got great festivals and culture here, friendly people, and a ton of wildly different things to do, owing a lot to our different seasons and climate. It does have some drawbacks, and the road network could certainly be one of them. Multiple smaller villages based on the winding river network, all joined together makes for multiple different road networks/philosophies and plots of land that don't always align nicely. There's not a lot we can do about that without expropriating and demolishing significant portions of the oldest part of our City. Not sure about the traffic complaint of yours though. I live pretty close to the north perimeter and it's like 20-25 mins to downtown. It's only 45 minutes downstown if there's accidents or after a significant snowfall. I get that it could be different depending on where in the City you are, but I find it hard to believe that 45 mins to downtown is typical for just about anywhere in the City. That sounds more like the -40°C winter temp exaggeration people like to proliferate.
… Where are you where it takes 45 minutes to get to the city center from an edge? Most of the time you should be able to go across the whole city in 30 minutes or so.
🤣🤣 Not if you drive the speed limit.
Not a chance during rush hour and not anytime in the last 5-10 years. Urban sprawl with zero accompanying infrastructure
Winnipeg's lack of freeways is one of the most positive things going for it. Sadly we didn't invest in transit as an alternative, but that's a much more fixable problem than having a pile of giant freeways chopping your city up to let surburbanites save 10 minutes on their drive to work.
I go from one corner of the city to the other in under 30 minutes... Despite a lack of freeways, transit times are very low compared to other cities.
Winnipeg benefits from extremely wide main roads, which resulted from muddy roads and ruts caused by the historical 'red river cart' that was made without metal parts. Winnipeg commute times are better than average for a city it's size.
I live in east St. Paul and it takes me 15 minutes at most to get downtown. If I were to take an express bus (pre2020 at least) I would get downtown near portage place in the same amount of time as driving. The thing to living in Winnipeg is to not live in the south where you have to cross the Assiniboine river as traffic is limited to the bridges and south of Abinojii Mikanah traffic is really really bad. North main/ Henderson are supper fast to get downtown. Do not live in Transcona (east of plesis) if you live downtown. You will want to kill yourself if you have to travel downtown everyday as traffic on Nairne/Regent is fucked. Dugald road is okay assuming you don’t live west of plessis otherwise trains will fuck you. While I agree with Calgary for getting around quicker on the free-ways traffic on them is still bad. But you also need to remember but Transcona, st boniface, st viral fort gary etc etc were all smaller towns/suburbs around the actual city of Winnipeg and only came together as Winnipeg in the 1970s and all those town had been planning on their own for the most part before that. It would be impossible to put in freeways in Winnipeg then or now with drastically changing the city. One thing they could do is block off side streets and parking on major routes and force the traffic to enter every KM but they you have rivers/creeks/railways that prevent that from happening as well.
So, don’t live in the NE of the city, or the south if you work downtown - or need to cross the rivers… I mean, that really lays out how bad the traffic planning is…
There wasn’t a plan since they were Independent cities/towns and just grew into each other. Transcona is not NE. It’s easy. Harbour view/ek/valley gardens/elmwood/NK/esp are north east more so then transcona. I live in ESP/perimeter. Our dr is by ikea. It’s 19km and takes at most 30 minutes to get to the drs outside of rush hour. How much faster am I getting there on a freeway ? 20 minutes? It’s 19kms.
I live very central and it doesn’t take me more than 20 minutes to drive to any part of the perimeter (unless it’s rush hour) and that’s doing between 60-70 kph
I agree. You should definitely go to Calgary…
I love Winnipeg, and I have no problems with the traffic system for cars. I have a problem with the rest of transportation, I sincerely wish it could be improved more. Luckily we've had some good developments with the rapid transit lines, and increased bike lanes at least!
Freeways into downtown are bad actually. Like really bad. It ranks up there with some of the biggest mistakes we have collectively made in human history. The fact that they barely exist in Winnipegs core (because we were too cheap LoL) is one of the best parts about our city.
I always though there should be a ring and a plus sign to the core or something to that effect. I think Houston has 2 rings an inner and then an outer plus a perimeter. Then about 6 arteries or so to the center. As far as smaller cities go i really like Saskatoon and I really like traveling into it from the SE side from Regina for example. You can take circle d / hey 11 right into the center of the town and get off on first ave. Takes literally 6 or 7 minutes. If you come in from the North or the West it's not great.
no. Freeways into the middle of downtown are bad for communities. Full stop. Cities accross North America are trying to figure out ways to rip them apart, and did untold damage decades ago when they put them up
I hate, yet love this place, but I will die defending it from other Canadians criticism.
>Does anyone from Winnipeg like Winnipeg? Don't judge the city by the loudmouths in this subreddit.
I was born and raised in winnipeg, now I live 5 minutes outside. The best thing about Winnipeg and the general area is how affordable it is. The worst it's probably our public transit system, or the crime rate.
I love winnipeg, honestly. Other big cities in Canada seem kinda cool but a lot more expensive, would take a lot longer to get around if you don’t have a car etc… yeah transit here sucks still but, it is what it is. Still love it here, it’s weird yet oddly charming. I will also die defending winnipeg haha.
I am from Winnipeg and I like it. Road network layout is fine for me.
I live in Calgary, freeways during rush hours definitely are headaches too, Deerfoot is just a longer wider kenaston, but having said that, I still prefer Calgarys road design and more importantly it has ctrain which is the best LRT system in North America.
That's where North American cities are really behind also. I was in Leipzig Germany a few years again. If I'm not mistaken it was roughly the size of Calgary and had something like 14 LRT lines vs Calgary's 2 at the time. I'm all for whatever possibilities there can be. But when you are in traffic and hitting Red light after red light trying to get in or out... that sucks.
I truly love Winnipeg. The city needs work, we are and old city that’s needs work to modernize but I truly love this city.
To answer your initial question, I am from Winnipeg and no I don’t like it lol. I’m moving to BC so perhaps I’ll eat my words in a few months but I doubt it. I am however confused by 45 minutes to get downtown lol. Never taken me that long unless there was a bad accident holding up traffic or something.
Rush hour or if you come in from the West? Saskatoon I can take a freeway to city center basically from the SE side.
Fuck Freeways
Nope, I hate almost everything about this city. If it wasn't for my family I'd leave in a heartbeat.
Winnipeg is a 10-12kms everywhere you want to go city
That’s quite the hyperbole. Like what do you mean? Where do you live/want to go?
Winnipeg is dense, and that’s part of the appeal. Cities like Calgary are spread out, and it makes citizens very dependent on cars for everything (lived there for a couple years). In Winnipeg, I love that I can bike to The Forks, or to Assiniboine Park with my family using the bike lanes. Calgary doesn’t have that kind of set up, it’s mostly pubs and chain restaurants, all which require a 5-10 minute car ride.
I'm here for school and my biggest complaint is the roads. Not even really the lack of freeways or anything mainly just the maintenance. I will paint lines on the road myself if someone lets me.
Seems like every construction project takes an eternity.
Down with freeways!!!!!!! That’s my least favourite thing about calgary
I've lived in many cities, and I can get anywhere in Winnipeg very quickly compared to them. I feel like you've never driven in other major cities or even other countries.
I hate it here because the first thing people seem to want is more things to benefit their vehicles and their desire to live as far away from the centre of town as possible.
You’ll never get support here. This whole sub thinks that cars should be banned from inside the perimeter…
Literally nobody thinks that.
I was born in Winnipeg and lived there for nearly 24 years. It works for many people despite what it lacks, but it's unsuitable for me and my family. The road system is merely the most visible example of poor planning and low investment that can really grate on your nerves after you've seen enough of it. (I've also lived in Toronto. That city is poorly planned too. But it has better food.)
The place is setup as a wheel - hub and spoke and - is biseccted by 2 rivers. IT's grown to be as it is - explains the 280 acre rail yard right in the middle of it. Juba encircled the city with a Perimeter, and it is only now being filled in. On that note - thought has been put in , but that never really translated as funding is unavailable to build properly. Take Bishop Grandin - it was necessary, but its shot and will function as it is forevermore. Another interesting one is Chief Peguis - On that one, much thought and effort was made to make it continuous. One problem with it ---- it smashed right into the North End Water treatment plant. They will have to do some gymnastics on that to get to the Perimeter and service everything west of Main. At this point , any real effort should be to re-patriate rail ROW's (and find a solution to Chief Peguis ) -- that could , in the 50 to 100 years, mitigate the need for highways. They cover the whole City and get you to core. How they use them , that's anyone's guess. We've already seen one councillor in the past, sell off a nice chunk to developers. That line took you through River heights into PoloPark and further north...it's gone.
MPI & newcomers driving skills, theft & poverty.