Council puts $566M Marion Street megaproject out of its misery

City council has finally killed the Marion Street widening, a $566-million megaprojectthat ran afoul of St. Boniface residents.

Two months after city transportation planners advised the project should be cancelled, council voted unanimously to abandon the project and have consulting firm MMM Group come up with a cheaper way to improve the flow of traffic between YouvilleStreet and Lagimodiere Boulevard.

• Council poised to finally kill $566M Marion megaproject

The Marion widening would have included the construction of an underpass at Archibald Street and the rail line to the east, as well as on-ramps and off-ramps.

St. Boniface residents opposed to the project said it would require expropriations and exacerbate traffic issues on smaller streets.

They also decried a consultation process former public works chair Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) called horrible.

Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) tried to put offthe decision about assigning a new consulting contract to MMM Group until December, but no one else on council supported him.

Lukesand new public works chair Marty Morantz(Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said it would cost the city more to issue a new consulting tender.

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Earlier today, council also voted approve annual fire inspections of rooming houses with shared kitchens or bathrooms, the $345,000 expropriation of a Parker neighbourhood home in order to complete the SouthwestTransitwayand the renaming of city hall's administration building after former mayor Susan Thompson, the first woman to lead the city.