Winnipeg will spend more than $3 million this year to create 70 kilometres of new bike-and-pedestrian paths and bike lanes in an effort to make the city easier to navigate for commuters who don't use cars.

Asphalt and limestone-covered trails will be completed in North Kildonan, Charleswood, St. Vital, Fort Garry and Fort Rouge, new bike lanes will appear downtown and bike corridors will be created on inner-city streets in 2008, according to a trail-creation plan presented to city councillors on Friday.

Two years of grassroots activism by organized cycling groups -- as well as the rising price of gasoline and the high cost of maintaining conventional roadways -- helped convince politicians of the need to beef up the city's trail-creation budget.

"I'm not one to go 'rah-rah city,' but this is great," said Janice Lukes, executive director of the Winnipeg Trails Association. "People are speaking up and elected officials-- who like to get elected -- are listening."

In 2006, Winnipeg devoted $200,000 to trail creation. The trail-building budget increased to $1.5 million in 2007 and now stands at $2.56 million for dedicated paths for bikes and pedestrians, plus $600,000 for shared spaces for bikes and cars on existing roads.

By the end of the year, Winnipeg will have 190 kilometres of dedicated paths and shared bike corridors. The city's existing trail network of 120 kilometres has long been derided as inadequate by commuter and recreational cyclists alike.

"This is long overdue. We're still behind other cities, but we're starting to catch up," said Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz.

All new city roads and bridges will include lanes for cyclists and pedestrians, the mayor said.

But the greater challenge lies in connecting Winnipeg's existing patchwork of trails, especially in older neighbourhoods where it's difficult to acquire land, said Kevin Nixon, the city's active-transportation co-ordinator.

To that end, Nixon said, this year's Active Transportation plan is primarily aimed at eliminating commuter-cycling "choke points" such as the Osborne Street underpass south of Confusion Corner, which can soon be avoided by a new 1.5-kilometre connection to the Red River.

New signs funded by the city and the Winnipeg Trails Association will help cyclists find the new routes, he said.

The trail-creation plan was hammered out over six months at dozens of meetings involving hundreds of volunteers who belong to trail-building organizations as well as lobby groups such as Bike To The Future and the Manitoba Cycling Association.

"The city is going in the right direction," said Kevin Miller, Bike To The Future's co-chair. "We hope to see the momentum carried through in following years, until Winnipeg reaches the level of bicycle infrastructure that other Canadian cities already have."

The Active Transportation plan does not, however, address the largest issue looming in Winnipeg's transportation future: The need to develop some form of rapid-transit corridor parallel to Pembina Highway.

The volunteers who hammered out the trail-creation plan actually listed the southwest Winnipeg corridor as the city's top trail priority, but the city has neither the money to create the busway that would make it possible -- or the land-use deals in place with CN Rail.

The first leg of that busway, from downtown to Jubilee Avenue, would cost $70 million. The city and the province are still deciding whether to devote $17.9 million of new federal transportation dollars toward the corridor.

"If there is a busway, there will be a bike path," said Katz, who personally prefers light-rail transit but does not believe Winnipeg can afford it.

A decision about how to spend the federal transportation kitty will be made before the end of July, the mayor said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Happy trails to you

The City of Winnipeg plans to spend $2.58 million on bike and pedestrian paths in 2008, plus $600,000 on active-transportation corridors where cyclists will share roads with motor vehicles. Here's where the money will be spent:

Dedicated trails for bikes and redestrians

Northeast Pioneers Greenway (Phase II)

Six more kilometres of this North Kildonan commuter trail will be completed between Knowles Avenue and Springfield Road. Pricetag: $500,000

Harte Trail

Packed gravel surface to be completed on this 12-kilometre trail south of the Assiniboine Forest, between Shaftesbury Boulevard and Elmhurst Road. Pricetag: $250,000

Bishop Grandin Greenway

Asphalt paths alongside Bishop Grandin Boulevard will link St. Vital Centre to St. Vital Park and the University of Manitoba. Pricetag: $900,000

WinSmart Pathway

A 1.5-kilometre path connecting the Red River to Osborne Street, allowing cyclists to avoid the Osborne Underpass south of Confusion Corner. Pricetag: $150,000

Southpoint Pathway

A two-kilometre asphalt path connecting the Lord Roberts neighbourhood to The Forks. Pricetag: $400,000

On-street improvements

Sharrows

Extra-wide lanes will allow bikes and cars to share portions of major commuter routes, including portions of Higgins Avenue, Roblin Boulevard, Grant Avenue, Regent Avenue, Plessis Road, Dakota Street and Dunkirk Drive. Pricetag: $50,000

East-west bike boulevards

Portions of Assiniboine Avenue, Elgin Avenue, Pacific Avenue and Alexander Avenue will be modified to encourage cycling and discourage automobile traffic. Pricetag: $550,000, including bike lanes (below)

Downtown bike lanes

New bike lanes on Carlton, Hargrave, Fort and Garry Streets are designed to make it easier for cyclists to navigate downtown. Pricetag: $550,000, including bike boulevards (above)

Other Projects

Trail signage

New, consistent signs for all Winnipeg trails. Pricetag: $80,000

North Winnipeg Parkway

Completing a study on how to complete a 10-kilometre stretch of the Trans-Canada Trail along the Red River between Alfred Avenue and St. John's Park. Pricetag: $50,000