Wellington Crescent Walk Bike Project - Interim Solution

We want to make Wellington Crescent a better place for biking and walking. 

Winnipeg’s Council-approved Pedestrian and Cycling Strategies identify this area as a high priority for new bike infrastructure. 

The street already has a seasonal bike route west of Academy Road. It connects to the protected bike lanes on River and Stradbrook Avenues east of Academy. This makes it a popular route for both commuters and recreational riders.

Right now, the 1.2 km section between Academy Road and Stradbrook Avenue doesn’t have a dedicated, safe space for people on bikes. Cyclists share the road with four lanes of motor vehicle traffic. The speed limit is 50 km/h and many drive even faster. This can create unsafe conditions.

While we know some sort of permanent bike infrastructure is needed here, there isn’t currently funding available for it. We are installing temporary bike lanes as an interim solution. 

The temporary bike lanes will stay until:

• Council funds a Walk Bike study and construction through the Capital Budget process
• We complete the study
• Council approves a design 
• And, we build the new, permanent solution

Right now, we want to make sure the temporary bike lanes work for the community. 

Why this, why now?

Wellington Crescent is a popular place to walk, bike, and drive. To make the street safer for everyone, we are planning to add temporary bike lanes in spring 2026. 

Based on measurements from winter 2025, we know most drivers follow the speed limit. However, out of about 12,000 vehicles that use Wellington Crescent each weekday, up to 20 percent – or 2,300 vehicles - were traveling 55 km/h or faster. About 1,000 of those were traveling 60 km/h or faster.

Since there are many people driving, walking, and biking here - and vehicles are often moving quickly - it’s important to keep cyclists and vehicles separated for safety. 

In June 2024, a person cycling on Wellington Crescent was hit and killed by a person driving over the speed limit. There were at least 10 more collisions between motor vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists from 2012 to 2022. This underscores the importance of road safety culture for all road users. 

What can you expect? 

The speed limit on Wellington Crescent between Academy Road and River Avenue will be lowered from 50 km/h to 40 km/h. Wellington Crescent currently has two travel lanes west of Grosvenor Avenue, but four lanes east of Grosvenor Avenue (between Grosvenor and Stradbrook Avenue). To provide room for the temporary bike lanes, the section east of Grosvenor Avenue will be reduced from four lanes to two. 

Turn restrictions

Some turn restrictions are needed to improve safety for people walking and biking. The current road layout creates poor sightlines and allows higher-speed turns, which can be dangerous. The following turns will not be allowed in the temporary design:

• Westbound left turns from Wellington Crescent onto Dorchester Avenue
• Northbound left turns from Dorchester Avenue onto Wellington Crescent
• Westbound left turns from Gertrude Avenue onto Wellington Crescent

Reduced on-street parking

We will remove about 29 temporary parking spaces on the south side of Wellington Crescent between Cockburn Street and Wardlaw Avenue. These spots are currently available outside of weekday rush hours (7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) and on weekends.

Impact to traffic

We used traffic modeling to look at how vehicle traffic might change after adding the temporary bike lanes. Traffic modeling helps predict what will happen to traffic after changes are made to streets. 

The model predicts that about 15-20% of drivers who currently use Wellington Cresent will choose other routes. The information below about traffic changes is provided for discussion – it is not an exact result. We will keep monitoring traffic and may adjust signal timing to help traffic move safely and smoothly. 

When traveling through the project area you can expect the following: 

• Travel times along Wellington Crescent are expected to be about five seconds longer
• In areas where the road goes from four lanes to two, only small traffic delays are expected when drivers turn into driveways. Traffic signals along the route will help create breaks in traffic. It will also be easier to leave a driveway because drivers will only need to cross one lane of traffic

Wellington Cresent looking east of Gertrude Avenue 

The intersection of Academy Road and Wellington Crescent is expected to see the biggest traffic changes:  

• During rush hour, drivers going north or west are expected to experience a delay of about 30 seconds
• Drivers going south or east will see only small delays – about three seconds on average
• Eastbound drivers turning left onto the Maryland Bridge will only be able to turn during a controlled left-turn signal. This change will make the intersection safer but will add wait time for traffic turning – about 20 seconds longer in the morning peak-period and up to one minute longer in the afternoon peak-period. These times are very dependent on how many eastbound drivers take a different route
• The westbound lanes will change from separate lanes to one shared lane for both going straight (through-traffic) and turning right. This will make the line of cars longer during busy times for drivers going straight or turning onto the Maryland Bridge

Intersection of Academy Road and Wellington Cresent