Mayoral candidate Gillingham vows to close the gaps in Winnipeg's active transportation network

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham will focus on improvingtransportationif he's elected next month.

On Sunday, Gillingham promisedto eliminate gaps in sidewalk and cycling networks, upgrade theroadwork priority formula to be more equitable, create a government branchforactive transportation planning and design and make changes to ensure safety features for pedestrians and cyclists are built as planned.

The pledge would mean an additional $13 million of spending on top of the city's existing active transportation capital budget of $11.9 million over three years.

Active transportation pathways in Winnipeg have come a long way, but some end abruptly, leaving cyclists in the lurch, Gillingham said.

"We need to close those gaps," he said. "I think if we can make active transportation pathways that are safer, it'll give people more confidence to ride."

Gillingham has saidany infrastructure financing will come from dedicated taxes and that he won't consider a property tax freeze.

Safety issue

The announcement came on the final day of ManyFest, a street festival along Broadway and Memorial Boulevard. One of the festival's features is a Bike Valet a free service described as a coat check for bikes staffed by volunteers.

Kashton Kaptein checked his bike after riding from Windsor Park to the University of Winnipeg for basketball practice and then over to Memorial Boulevard for the festival. He said the ride wasn't great.

"I gotta use sidewalks and then the road, but that's kind of unsafe because people in Winnipeg are bad drivers," he said.

It's that lack of connectivity that's a common complaint from city cyclists, saidMark Cohoe, the executive director of Bike Winnipeg, who was volunteering as a bike valet.

A move to more active transportation would mean there would befewer drivers on the road, plus it would be better for the climate andgood for the economy, he said.

"When you're biking, you're catching into that local business, the money you're spending is staying in our local economy and recirculating through it, it's not going to gas and car parts," he said. "It's staying hereand that makes a big difference."

Gillingham is the third mayoral candidate to address ways of making Winnipeg more bike-friendly.

Shaun Loney has said he'll eliminate bike-registration fees, dedicate a police officer to fight bike theft, install secure public bike lockers and change city zoning rules to require new developments to include secure bike storage.

Candidate Rick Shone has pledged a similar bike-registration plan to Loney's and promised to increasethe city's annual spending on bike trails, sidewalk improvements and pedestrian trails.

As a city councillor,Gillingham saidhe's supported active transportation plans that included pathways as part of road construction projects, but he noted that some of those pathways haven't been built.

That's why his planincludes having two full-time city employeesdevoted to road safety and active transportation who would have the authority to withhold contractors' payment if active transportation features aren't completed.

"This is an investment that we need to make in our infrastructure," he said.

Gillingham, Loney and Shoneare among the15people registered torun for mayor in the civic election on Oct. 26. The other candidates are Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Vincent Gabriele, Kevin Klein, Jenny Motkaluk, Glen Murray, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Jessica Peebles,Govind Thawani, Desmond Thomasand Don Woodstock.