St. B residents excited by plans for $10-M walkway

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This article was published 16/10/2017 (2381 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. Boniface residents are reacting positively to an announced $10-million walkway and riverbank stabilization project planned for a section of Taché Avenue.

Louisa Ryz, who lives in the condominium between the St. Boniface Cathedral and the St. Boniface Museum, couldn’t hold back her excitement Tuesday night as she looked at the information panels at a City of Winnipeg open house at Notre Dame Recreation Centre.

“This is my front yard,” Ryz said. “This is an absolutely marvellous project. It’s going to be absolutely spectacular.”

Nearby, Jules Hebert and his wife, Paulette, were also quite pleased with what they saw of the construction proposal.

“We walk by along there and every time we do, we walk on the sidewalk on the other side of the street and hope something will be done there,” Hebert said. “This will attract a lot more tourists to the area. It’s just such a nice destination.

“Now this will make it more beautiful.”

City council approved the Taché promenade project last month, after a civic report came out showing it had almost doubled in cost from $5.188 million to $10 million — mostly due to a need for increased riverbank stabilization work.

The project will also be funded with $1 million from the Winnipeg Foundation and $500,000 from the federal government.

Cam Ward, the city’s manager on the project, said earlier plans for timber planks on the walkway have now been changed to concrete with paving stones on top.

“It is more robust for ice loading and the people attracted there on Canada Day,” he said.

Ward said, at this stage, three sections of riverbank stabilization work will be completed between Provencher Boulevard and Rue Despins.

Construction is slated to begin this winter and be completed sometime next year.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca