In 2009, the City of Winnipeg identified Assiniboine Avenue for the development of an active transportation facility as part of a larger project entitled “Building the Network”. The route provides an alternative to Broadway and St. Mary Avenues to access downtown Winnipeg, with traffic using the north- and southbound one-way street system to get to their destinations in the downtown. Assiniboine Avenue is currently one of the most highly utilized roads for cycling in Winnipeg due to its location downtown and its proximity to the most densely populated neighbourhood in the city. The route serves the densely populated residential, commercial and office land uses of the South Broadway Community. Assiniboine Avenue also provides access to riverfront property along the north side of the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg. Assiniboine Avenue is situated between the Manitoba Legislative Building and The Forks, a large tourism and recreation destination. The paper examines the alternate options developed, a determination of their traffic impact on Assiniboine Avenue and adjacent streets and the evaluation process used to decide the recommended option. The paper also examines the development of design elements required to ensure that the neighbourhood was still serviced by emergency services and large trucks such as moving vans. This paper tracks the process of converting this urban collector street servicing significant pass through and short-cutting traffic into the city’s first ‘cycle track’ with conversion of sections to one-way vehicle operation, diversion of through traffic and creation of a showcase project for active transportation.
