Construction crews returned to Assiniboine Avenue Friday to allow two-way traffic to return to a contentious block of the downtown street.

At the end of August, six businesses located near the Midtown Bridge complained to the city about changes to the flow of traffic in the Broadway-Assiniboine neighbourhood as a result of the Assiniboine Bikeway, a $125,000 project that's one of 35 new bike-and-pedestrian amenities planned for Winnipeg this year.

In September, the businesses filed a lawsuit to halt construction on the bikeway. One of their main complaints involved the flow of traffic on a single block of Assiniboine, between Hargrave Street and Navy Way. The original bikeway plan called for two-way traffic to flow under the Midtown Bridge, but a tweak to the plan earlier this year resulted in one-way, westbound traffic beneath the bridge.

On Oct. 8, Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi announced the city plans to revert to the original plan for the contentious block. A letter dated Oct. 25 finally confirmed the change.

"As a result of ongoing discussions with area stakeholders, a need has arisen to further revise the planned traffic flow changes subsequent to the letter that we distributed in your neighbourhood in July," project manager Bill Woroby said in the letter. "These revisions will permit access and egress to and from properties between the Midtown Bridge and Navy Way for the variety of vehicles that currently use that section of Assiniboine Avenue."

In October, Gerbasi hoped the move would satisfy the businesses. But they have vowed to continue their legal action.

Also see City backtracks on Assiniboine

Bike to the Future's comment:

The block on Assiniboine Ave between Navy Way (under the Midtown Bridge, aligns with Donald St) and Hargrave Street is the only block affected. It was originally supposed to be two-way, but many months ago during detailed design the consultants/engineers/City changed it to one-way west-bound, and it was built that way -- with a 3.0m cycle track and medians (diverters) on the roadway to prevent east-bound car traffic from entering that block on Assiniboine Avde. They are now changing that block back to two way car traffic, so they've torn up the medians/diverters, the concrete that divides the cycle rack from the motorized traffic lane, and the curb bump-out at the corner of Hargrave and Assiniboine (which affects pedestrians). ~8 on-street parking spots will be removed.

It will be rebuilt with a slightly narrower (2.7m) cycle track and two narrow motorized traffic lanes. The important thing is that cycletrack will still be continuous.

Part of the problem with this block being one-way was that, because of the low Midtown Bridge over Assiniboine Ave at Navy Way, some properties could not be served by tall trucks.