Scaled-back plans for new north Winnipeg Transit garage keep project in budget range

A Winnipeg Transit bus is seen in an undated photo. (CTV News Winnipeg)

The design phase for a major infrastructure project in Winnipeg is nearly complete.

A new report to the city’s finance committee details scaled-back plans to keep the new north Winnipeg Transit garage within its $200 million budget.

The 26,000 square-metre facility is slated to be built on the south side of Selkirk Avenue near Oak Point Highway. The garage will include storage capacity for 207 40-foot buses, a total of 12 repair and service bays, and electric chargers for 24 battery electric buses.

Initial plans for the facility were based on a 40,000 square-metre footprint, but city council voted last September to reduce the project’s scope to avoid an estimated increased budget of $305 million.

However, the current design means there’s less room to store and repair buses. It also means potentially delaying the purchase of some 60-foot articulating buses because of a lack of storage space, which could “adversely” impact ridership and service for the new Winnipeg Transit network launching this summer.

The report states there’s a plan to repurpose space in the Fort Rouge Garage to add more maintenance and repair bays.

The public service is also completing an assessment on the existing north garage on Main Street to see how much it would cost to keep it operational longer than expected.

The report does note the new garage’s design is being completed “in such a way that the features removed from the facility can be added at a later time.”

The report also warns the ongoing tariff dispute between Canada and the United States could impact the project but says it’s too early to determine the level of risk.

The finance committee will review the report on April 17.