Traffic, 75 years ago, was rarely a seven-letter in the dictionary to most people who could move freely around the growing city of Winnipeg in their cutters and buggies. Attempts at traffic control were not made until after the First World War when the first traffic lights were adopted and the police constable on point duty became an every-day sight on the main thoroughfares.
How many will remember the tall policeman, spendidly clad in khaki twill with a white helmet and gloves at Portage and Main, standing on a small platform, waving the stream of traffic to its destination?
The policeman in his khaki twill has long since disappeared and red, green and amber lights flast in their hundreds, "Walk" and "Don't Walk" signs that blink their appeals to pedestrians to be careful. For traffic has a stranglehold on the city now as it has on every metropolitan centre in the world.
Traffic became a many-headed monster to be battled with after the Second World War as the populatio boomed, suburbia expanded and everybody bought an automobile to travel around in, in competition with the prevailing rapid transit system. Parking lots and parking meters appeared. Car park buildings became a new industry as the rules were rewritten to speed the flow of traffic on streets which were becoming bottle-necks through and the Red River.
Then came the St. James bridge to further improve the parked vehicles.
Considerable study has gone into the situation. The Wilbur Smith report in 1957 and the Norman Wilson report of 1958 tried to find the answers. The fight has been an all-out affair.
First came the Midtown bridge which enables traffic to move to South Winnipeg over the Assiniboine River without being forced over the Osborne Street route, one of the few prevailing routes to the south side. The gigantic traffic jams on Redwood Avenue were lessened with the multi-million dollar Disraeli Bridge and freeway across the CPR track.
The Perimeter highway which encompases the metropolitan area in a wide circle enables you to go from one side of town to the other on the outskirts. Many downtown streets are one-way arteries. There has been a hue and cry from merchants who found their customers could not park outside of their shops in restricted areas.
What of the future? A Winnipeg Area Transportation Study was set up to reveal that the Metropolitan council plans a long-range streamlining program that eventually will cost taxpayers as much as $250,000,000. This is a 25-year program of expressways, rapid transit, subways, overpasses and bridges.
Here are some of the items citizens may see a quarter-century from now:
The street cars have disappeared and there is no mention of subway construction, but maybe the street cars will come back under a new plan. The Wilson report dealt mainly with subways and the earlier Smith report spoke of expressways and bridges. What Metro seeks is an inter-related scheme to move everybody and everything as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
It is estimted that by 1986, Winnipeg and its environs will hold 900,000 people. The number of vehicles will be doubled and you can imagine the congestion. Eight expressways connecting several suburbs that fringe on the city proper to the central area are planned at a cost of $8,000,000 per mile. Metro authorities hope that improved traffic conditions would result in a higher assessment making downtown more valuable.
The provincial government also has initiated a revision of the Manitoba Highway Traffic Act, a scheme planned to improve highway safety. Metro also seeks control of all traffic on Greater Winnipeg streets, its control has been over intermunicipal thoroughfares only.