North Winnipeg residents recently had an opportunity to see the city’s final blueprint for a series of new and improved active transportation trails.

City officials hosted an open house April 15 at Ralph Brown Community Centre in the North End to give area residents a chance to view details of the project and provide feedback.

The city will begin work on 35 trail projects later this spring. The federal, provincial and civic governments have contributed $20 million for the projects, which must be completed by March 2011.

North Winnipeg Commuter Cyclists representative Greg Littlejohn said he liked what he saw at the open house.

"We’re glad to see our feedback has been listened to," he said, noting the city’s inclusion of a bike path through Powers Park is a key development from his point of view.

Another north Winnipeg-based project, the Powers Street project, will provide pedestrians and cyclists with a north-south connection linking the North End with other areas of the city.

Civic active transportation co-ordinator Kevin Nixon said the city tried to incorporate the suggestions it received from residents into the final plan.

"We’ve done our homework on this one. That’s the reason we received the grant in the first place," Nixon said.

"Residents have identified what is important and we have been working with an advisory committee."

Winnipeg City Council approved the active transportation projects in December 2009.

The list of projects included in last year’s announcement include the Alexander-Pacific Bikeway from King Street to King Edwards Street and a link from Kildonan Park to the Kildonan Bridge on Chief Peguis Trail. Work on the Machray and Pritchard bikeways, which will stretch from Main Street northeast to Keewatin Street, will also be undertaken this year.

The north end plan has not come without changes. Many forced right hand turns as well as traffic circles that were proposed have been deleted from the plan after feedback from school bus drivers who would not have been able to negotiate some of the proposed new turns.

St. James resident Fred Morris said he would have preferred that the city dealt with each of the 35 transportation projects individually.

"These plans should not be lumped together, rather dealt with one by one," he said.

"If something isn’t working, I would rather see individual projects delayed rather than being pressed ahead."

Nixon said finalizing plans for the North End proved a little more challenging than in other parts of the city.

Winnipeg’s Active Transportation project dates back to 2006, when it was approved by city council. Council adopted an implementation plan in April 2007.

rob.brown@canstarnews.com