by Janice Lukes, Winnipeg Trails Coordinator, Winnipeg Trails Association

Time for an end of year and much overdue update!

Many of you have been in the 'business' of promoting trails, commuting, and active transportation for decades in hopes of securing increased funding to build more -- decades educating elected officials and the public on the benefits -- healthier lifestyles, environment and improved sustainability, etc, years of advocacy! I've only been involved for a brief 8 years, but can't begin to tell you how unbelievably refreshing it is to see the focus of our efforts now shifting, so I can't imagine how you too must feel about this progress! Cheers to a brilliant 2009 -- to everyone's efforts -- and to a historic year for trail development in Winnipeg with all levels of government providing unprecedented support.

2010 and a broader focus is about to begin! A brief overview of initiatives I'm involved in on behalf of WTA follows:

2010 Captial Budget, City of Winnipeg

In the weeks of Dec 1st to 15th, I appeared in delegation to the Property & Development Committee, Public Works Committee, Executive Policy Committee, and finally to City Council, commenting on the 2010 budget. Presentations can be viewed at http://winnipeg.ca/CLKDMIS/. In summary - presentations focused on thank yous for funding support, listening, and ongoing dialogue, concerns for infrastructure quality, and a communications strategy. While presenting to various committees can be a gruelling process, it is very important. We've had dynamic dialogue with the City over the past few years, with stellar results. Thank yous, recognition of support, and ongoing dialogue will ensure continued success.

Spending $20 million on active transportation infrastructure -- your involvement

This funding must be spent by Spring 2011, so the City has one construction season to build -- the 2010 construction season. The City of Winnipeg has no design guidelines / standards for on-road cycling infrastructure. Other than painted lines on roadways, the City has never built on-road cycling infrastructure. They do have design guidelines / standards for multi-use trails. Since multi-use trails cannot be built everywhere, we need the connectivity on-road infrastructure offers. It is critical the on-road infrastructure is built to the highest standards possible and that it be built for everyone to access.

To date, the City has grouped the 37 trails and on-road projects into bundles based on commonality and locations. They've allocated these bundles of projects to multiple consulting groups (7 or 8+). These consulting groups will interact with the City (Active Transportation Coodinator Kevin Nixon, a City Project Manager, and two other consulting groups) to ensure consistency in what is built. We are told public consultations will be held in late January to February. Lots of consulting groups, lots of consulting, lots of dialogue going on.

It is vital that the City receives as much public input as possible -- the end users more often than not have the best input. We are being assured the input will be 'heard'. When the public consultation sessions are confirmed, I will be emailing all of you and encouraging you to bring get your members out to participate.
Please note: The City has stated the on-road infrastructure will be designed only for for 'basic / less confident' cyclists, and not children and families. Personally I am challenged by this in many ways, but will wait to hear more details over the next month and will keep you informed.

Velo Quebec

Anders Swanson (One Green City), myself, and Bike to the Future have successfully advocated to have the City bring in technical expertise from Velo Quebec to share with the consortium of consultants & City staff working on the projects. Velo Quebec has been designing on-road cycling infrastructure in the province of Quebec (with a similar climate to Winnipeg) for 40 years -- complete with manuals, workshops, trained experts, etc. Velo Quebec will hold two workshops for 40 consultants and City/Provincial staff at the end of January. We are also hoping to hold an evening open to the public (you) and whoever is interested to learn more about Velo Quebec's success in 'La belle province'.

Education - Communication - Public Relations

$20 million worth of new Active Transportation infrastructure holds immense education, communication, and PR opportunities. As one who believes the world revolves around marketing and PR :-), I focused much of the 2010 Capital Budget discussions around the vast PR opportunities $20 million holds for the City. Just before Christmas, we are informed the City's new PR specialist, Mr Ed Shiller, and his team have been tasked to work on the AT file and have formed a 'Communication Advisory Committee'. Our first meeting is set for next week. The City also just recently set up an AT blog to capture public input: http://winnipegatrans.wordpress.com.

While the City has been challenged with communication abilities in the past, I'm very optimistic that Mr Shiller will be able to deliver. He has lived and cycled in Copenhagen and Toronto, and had to buy a car when he moved to Winnipeg this past fall -- AT is not new to him. This, combined with the willingness to receive advice from those of us on the Active Transportation Advisory Committee and general public are all very positive signs.

Provincial Active Transportation Advisory Group

In May of 2009, Minister Jim Rondeau announced the Province would be forming an Active Transportation Advisory Group. He joked at the announcement that the Province saw the success the City was having with their advisory group, and felt they too could benefit from a similar structure. The Province convened the group this fall (11 people); I am the Chair, and we have had 3 meetings to date. We are in the process of gathering information to base recommendations on. The formation of this group is sound step forward for everyone in the Province, and we expect some initial recommendations to come forward in the next few months. We are in the process of setting up an outreach / communication system to dialogue with all who are interested. For myself, working with the City and its process has been an ideal learning opportunity. The process in the Province is yet another level to learn and experience :-)

New Positions

New positions - with some familiar faces! Congratulations to

• Howard Skrypnyk, Provincial Recreational Trails Coordinator, Province of Manitoba - who replaces the now-retired Jackie Crone. http://www.gov.mb.ca/healthyliving
• Jim Chapryk, Executive Director, Manitoba Recreational Trails Association

Both Howard and Jim have been long time volunteer cycling and trail advocates in various organizations and have new roles with the Province's focus on recreational and the Trans Canada Trail. I am thrilled to see them both in these positions, and know with their support we will all continue to make great progress going forward!

Trailheads

The good news doesn't stop. New trailhead structures have been just recently erected on the Harte / Preston Trail and Cordite Trail, and on the Northeast Pioneers Greenway and Bishop Grandin Greenways. The trailhead project was initiated by the Winnipeg Trails Association just over 3 years ago, and due to an interesting City process, is now a reality. Signs on the trailhead structures will be installed over the winter months. They are also putting benches under some to act as shade structures!

We are fortunate to have secured the talents of Kirk Warren to design the trailhead signage. Kirk designed the international award winning trail signage markers located on bollards throughout the city. The mapping is being done in partnership with the City of Winnipeg and Wendy Wilson of the Prairie Pathfinders. You are here will never look so good! The City, Red River Co-op, the Winnipeg Foundation, and the Province are funding this project,and will enable additional structures for 2010 & 2011.

Trail Signage -- kilometre markers

The City has a few trail signage markers remaining to install, completing a total of 26 signed trails. It is an arduous process as each trail sign requires an on-site visit and "call before you dig" regime. The City installation team has been super to work with throughout the entire process! You may recall our partnership with Winnipeg in Motion funded kilometre markers on 6 trails, and is now working with us to develop a kilometre scavenger hunt program and install kilometre markers on additional trails. A super partnership!

International Trails Day -- Saturday, June 5th

Again, the City and Province have committed funding to support International Trails Day. This day brings brilliant recognition to trails, communities, volunteers, and supporters. So far, we have these events occurring on June 5th. If you are interested in also holding an event, please contact me:

• Save our Seine: 20th Anniversary celebrations
• Bishop Grandin Greenway: 10th Anniversary celebrations
• Friends of the Harte Trail: Trail extension / opening celebrations (and their 10th year also!)
• Transcona Trails: Cordite Trail opening celebrations
• Prairie Pathfinders: Free guided hikes from The Forks
• Northeast Pioneers Greenway: Celebrating many new developments

Bike to Work Day --- Friday, June 18th

Winnipeg Trails Association is organizing the Pancake Breakfast at The Forks. If you are interested in volunteering and helping with this event, please contact me.

Events

January & February
Check out these winter trail events. The Prairie Pathfinders are holding frozen river walks on the Seine and LaSalle, and Winnipeg in Motion is holding Snow Trek -- a skiing, snowshoeing, and celebrate winter event. Details can be found at http://www.winnipegtrails.ca.

March
There are two conference being planned in early spring with a strong focus on Active Transportation. One is being hosted by the Physical Active Coalition of Manitoba, and the other is being hosted by Health in Common. I am participating on behalf of WTA to some degree in both, and when more details are available will pass them on.

WTA website

We have now secured a student to help us with the WTA website! He is in the process of learning a few more of its technicalities and we should be up and current 99% of the time very soon!

River Trail

And last but not by least of any importance, our great WTA Chair, Paul Jordan, is yet again working hard to provide us with an unbelievable winter river trail on the Assiniboine River! It will be wide for walking, skating, and skiing if all goes to plan. Make sure you check it out!