Spring flooding highlights need for better commuting infrastructure: Bike Winnipeg

Active commuters like joggers and cyclists in Winnipeg may have to find new routes for the coming days as rising river levels around the city have forced the closure of several trails.

Trails like the one underneath the Provencher Bridge were covered with ice and river water over the weekend.

That means some cyclists may be forced off the city’s calmer trails and onto the stress of Winnipeg streets.

“This particular route, there’s no really good detour, you’re kind of trapped going up Main Street to compensate for the detour here and for a lot of people, that’s a really non-negotiable route. There’s just too much traffic,” said Mark Cohoe, the executive director of Bike Winnipeg.

“It can be a little tricky, often it means finding detours around your route.”

READ: Flooding closes some highways around Manitoba

Cohoe says the spring flooding underscores the need for better active commuting infrastructure in the city that cyclists and other active commuters could use when the inevitable spring flooding comes.

“We need routes that are parallel to these,” said Cohoe. “It’s not just, ‘give us this river route, and forget about the rest of the city.’ We actually have to get them to their destination.”

The province says water levels are rising on the Assiniboine River from Shellmouth Dam to Winnipeg. They are expected to peak between April 11 and April 18, but are forecasted to remain below bank capacity as snow melts gradually.

WATCH: Manitoba flood outlook improves again (March 25)

Central and southern Manitoba is expected to be hit by a “significant precipitation system forecast” between April 12 and April 15, the provincial government said in a release Saturday. That could mean anywhere from 30 to 80 cm of snow and rain.

“Runoff from the forecasted precipitation is not expected to start before April 20,” according to the province’s latest flood bulletin.

The province initially forecasted river levels in the city would peak between April 10 and April 16, with levels flowing between 17.4 feet and 18.4 feet above the James Avenue Datum – the point used to gauge river levels in the city.

READ MORE: Time for Winnipeggers to worry about floods amid high snowfall? (Feb. 22)

As river levels remain high, Cohoe says cyclists and other active commuters should steer clear.

“It’s got the barriers for a reason,” he said. “You don’t really know what’s under there. There’s current involved. There’s ice that’s sort of at the path level and if you slip on that, you’re in the river and in the currents and anything can happen at that point.”

Cohoe says while the spring melt can be a trying time, he says there is hope for cyclists in the future, pointing to the city’s work around updating its Transportation Master Plan.

The director of Bike Winnipeg hopes that will have a better focus on accessible pedestrian and active commuter pathways. He hopes real action is in store.

“It’s one thing to have it on a plan, but ultimately, until it’s in concrete and on the ground, it’s meaningless.”