More clarity at City Hall regarding the extension of Chief Peguis Trail

More clarity has come forward about two conflicting reports on the net value of the proposed Chief Peguis Trail extension project.

City staff say their analysis, which shows a net value of nearly 280 million, contains more up-to-date traffic modeling information from the province and Centreport than that of Deloitte’s analysis, which estimates the net value much lower, at 41.8 million.

New info shows that traffic originating from the area of Centreport is now significantly higher than originally estimated.

“The increased traffic results in enhanced benefits, because we’ll reduce travel time, and travel time was a key factor for what contributes to the benefits side of the analysis,” said Andrew Condon, the manager of engineering with Public Works.

Janice Lukes, chairperson for the Standing Police Committee on Public Works, says, “The volume of traffic, I think was over 100 per cent more, it was a very large increase that they hadn’t accounted for, and then when they looked at the growth of the area and added that to it, I think that was very significant and that’s why it changed so dramatically.”

While Emma Durand-Wood, the councillor for Elmwood–East Kildonan, said, “We need to think twice about how much weight we give that when it may not be accurate in the first place.”

Durand-Wood thinks traffic modelling tends to overpredict the amount of traffic that will develop and opposes the project. 

“I’ve got residents calling me all the time saying my road is falling apart, my lane is falling apart, can we improve our pools, can we fix our arenas, and the answer is like we don’t have any money for that, so my position is why are we adding more liabilities to our city when we’re having so much trouble just maintaining the infrastructure that we already have,” she explained.

But others believe the project is worthwhile for the future of Winnipeg.

“From the dawn of time, there’s been corridors for transportation, and this is a major transportation corridor for industry, for trucking, and for commuting,” said Lukes.

Devi Sharma, the councillor for Old Kildonan, says, “For the economic development angle, how we connect to Centreport, it’s a key trade corridor, and it really needs to be built in the coming years, and I think it’s about the three levels of government collaborating.”

The project will now be referred to the 2026/27 strategic priorities action plan process.