{"id":21065,"date":"2025-06-28T06:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T06:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/21065\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T06:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T06:05:10","slug":"pedestrians-reclaim-portage-and-main-as-winnipeg-reopens-the-famed-intersection-after-46-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/21065\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedestrians reclaim Portage and Main as Winnipeg reopens the famed intersection after 46 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Gillingham once opposed opening the intersection to pedestrians. On Friday, he joined the crowd making the first legal crossing in decadesShannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

History books will show that Winnipeg<\/a> Mayor Scott Gillingham was the first pedestrian in more than four decades to traverse between Portage Avenue <\/b>and Main Street, finally reopening what is widely known as the crossroads of Canada to foot traffic after years of fervent debate.<\/p>\n

Well, kind of. Many others have routinely jaywalked across the downtown thoroughfares since 1979, when barricades were erected to prioritize the free flow of cars and trucks. People on foot have since been crossing illegally <\/b>or using an underground concourse beneath the 16 lanes of traffic at the famed intersection<\/a>, proximate to the longitudinal centre of the country.<\/p>\n

In 2017, The Globe took a walk through the pedestrian underpass at Portage and Main. A city report last year found that the underground concourse was prone to leakage and would cost tens of millions of dollars to repair. <\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

But on Friday, hundreds of eager residents beat Mr. Gillingham to his preplanned photo-op moment. With the buttery midmorning sun spotlighting their path, shrouds over the new walk signals were lifted, and the mayor became just one among a crowd of many to legally cross the road when the last remaining barriers were removed.<\/p>\n

He marked the occasion, as music blared, with a healthy dose of classically Winnipeg-flavoured <\/a>sardonicism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid growing up, playing hockey<\/a>, idolizing Dale Hawerchuk, I dreamed of having my own press conference at Portage and Main,\u201d Mr. Gillingham said to roaring laughter. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very special,\u201d he continued cheekily, speaking from a podium facing the intersection while pompoms were thrown in the air. \u201cToday, we\u2019re putting an end to 46 years of debating whether or not people should be allowed to cross the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Before the reopening, people on foot routinely crossed the intersection illegally.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, Mr. Gillingham acknowledged that getting to this point<\/a> wasn\u2019t easy. The reopening has long been opposed by both city councillors and residents. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there\u2019s still more work to do. Work to improve safety, work to address homelessness, and work to drive economic growth downtown,\u201d he said. \u201cBut making the intersections more accessible and more connected helps move us in the right direction for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Mr. Gillingham himself was opposed to the reopening for years as a city councillor. He even stood against it during his 2022 mayoral election campaign. <\/p>\n

In 2018, his predecessor, Brian Bowman, had promised a reopening. But he backtracked after two-thirds of Winnipeggers (most of whom were from the city\u2019s suburbs) voted against it in a non-binding plebiscite.<\/p>\n

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Hundreds of Winnipeggers gathered to celebrate on Friday. But in 2018, two-thirds of the city, most of them suburb residents, had voted against reopening the intersection.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Mr. Gillingham\u2019s 180 about putting pedestrians back on the streets was a practical decision. Last year, a city report indicated<\/a> that the intersection\u2019s underground concourse was significantly prone to leakage \u2013 costing around $73-million to repair, with up to five years of construction-induced traffic delays. <\/p>\n

The mayor told reporters he didn\u2019t have a definitive date to shutter the concourse, or a decision on whether it would be permanently or partially closed. While he spoke, Haley Yurman, who works at local coffee chain Empty Cup, one of several businesses housed in the underground walkway, waved a sign behind him: \u201cStill brewing one level down.\u201d Ms. Yurman said she is unsure if her caf\u00e9 will need to relocate. <\/p>\n

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Stacy Cardigan Smith is one of dozens of community advocates in attendance, many of whom have campaigned for years against car-centric urban planning.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

On Friday, dozens of long-standing community advocates<\/a> showed up in full force to celebrate the milestone. Over the years, they had initiated campaign upon campaign to fight against urban planning that puts cars before people.<\/p>\n

Many drivers honk-honk-honked in support, as people took selfies atop the newly-established pedestrian refuge islands at the four corners of the intersection. Some commuters, however, honked out of anger, cussing at the event\u2019s attendees from their car and truck windows. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really never thought I\u2019d see this in my lifetime. There\u2019s been so much resistance,\u201d said Martina Kucey, shortly after making a jaunt across the walkways with her golden retrievers, Carter and Bishop.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut here it is. It\u2019s finally happened. And I never want to see it go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Martina Kucey and her two dogs, Bishop and Carter, celebrate the reopening. Behind them, Haley Yurman, who works at a coffee chain in the underground walkway, holds a sign: “Still brewing one level down.”Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mayor Scott Gillingham once opposed opening the intersection to pedestrians. On Friday, he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-21065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}