Get ready you could be paying twice for Portage and Main

Mayor Scott Gillingham’s decision to reopen Portage and Main to pedestrians was sold as a step forward and a way to save millions. It was pitched as modernization, a chance to reclaim a historic intersection and move beyond the stereotype of a closed-off downtown. The promise was that this would be progress at a reasonable cost. What it has become is another example of poor planning at City Hall, where taxpayers are once again paying more than they were told.

The latest development comes from a report to the city’s property and development committee. It shows that the underground concourse beneath the intersection, once assumed to be decommissioned as part of the mayor’s plan, cannot be abandoned without major expense. A full decommissioning would cost $7.9 million and take nearly 18 months. Even a partial closure, shutting down only the south loop, would run $6.5 million and stretch over 14 months. Faced with those numbers, the committee is now recommending the city keep maintaining the concourse until a full cost-benefit analysis is completed.

So instead of saving millions, Winnipeg taxpayers are staring down another bill in the millions to maintain infrastructure that was supposed to be removed. The six businesses that remain in the concourse were surveyed. Four out of five opposed closure. For most of them, access to the concourse was either the deciding factor or a major influence in their lease decision. They are now reporting reduced foot traffic since Portage and Main reopened to pedestrians in June. Far from helping business, this project has left some operators worse off.

Those same tenants asked for safety upgrades and better security in the underground, a reasonable request given the challenges of operating downtown. That issue, however, has been lost in the bigger political story. City Hall has had no problem rushing ahead with bike lanes or pedestrian-only projects, but when business owners call for basic safety measures, they are ignored.

This is not just about one intersection. It exposes how poorly thought-out the mayor’s plan was from the start. Reopening Portage and Main was billed as a cost saver, but no one told residents that the city would need to dig up the intersection again to replace the membrane, doubling the expense. If that had been discussed when the decision was made, Winnipeggers might have had a different view. Instead, the details were hidden behind the promise of savings and progress.

The pattern is familiar. Gillingham dismissed the result of the 2018 plebiscite, where residents voted to keep Portage and Main closed, saying it was “just an intersection.” That flippant attitude toward taxpayers is now showing up in the numbers. Instead of saving millions, this project will cost more than expected, while businesses and residents see little return on the investment.

The same lack of foresight is evident elsewhere. On Graham Avenue, where the city moved to a pedestrian-only model, businesses say sales are down and the loss of transit stops hit them hard. If the city wanted a pedestrian corridor, there are better options, like areas already lined with shops and restaurants. Graham never made sense, but the decision was pushed through anyway.

Or look at the density debate. The city imposed new fourplex and triplex rules across Winnipeg without proper consultation. Builders were left in limbo, residents were left angry, and some applications are now being turned down. A developer can still put up a fourplex without neighbourhood input. The process is confusing, inconsistent, and costly.

Even on smaller issues, the lack of planning is obvious. Crews filled potholes on Portage Avenue, only to return days later to tear up the same stretch and repave it fully. Taxpayers paid for the same job twice because City Hall cannot coordinate its work.

This is not how you run a major corporation, yet Winnipeg’s city government is one of the largest corporations in Manitoba. It collects billions in revenue, employs thousands of people, and is responsible for the city’s core infrastructure. Any private-sector board of directors would remove a CEO who pushed through multimillion-dollar projects without proper planning or cost analysis. But at City Hall, those same mistakes are excused, and taxpayers carry the burden.

Mayor Gillingham campaigned on managing the city’s finances responsibly. Yet every step of the Portage and Main project suggests the opposite. It was sold as progress at a savings. It is delivering disruption and new bills. That is not leadership. It is mismanagement, plain and simple.

Winnipeg deserves leaders who treat public money with the same care that business owners treat their own. Leaders who understand that when you promise savings, you deliver savings. When you say a project is progress, it should not leave businesses worse off. And when you make a mistake, you admit it and correct it, rather than doubling down.

The facts are clear. Reopening Portage and Main was never properly planned. It has not saved money. It has not helped downtown businesses. It has only created new costs for taxpayers who were told this would be different. The mayor wanted a quick win. Instead, he has given us another costly reminder of what happens when politics takes precedence over planning.

Winnipeggers deserve better.