An outsider with no idea about the corner’s ramparted history would unlikely know a debate divided the city over the past decade.<\/p>\n
“Initially, I kind of had the same expectations as everyone else, [that] traffic’s going to be insane, but we haven’t really seen much of a difference. It’s been pretty effective walking across,” said Matthew Hendrickson, out for a morning break on Friday.<\/p>\n
“We cross all the time for lunch and coffees in the morning, so I love it,” said co-worker Kassandra Watanabe. “It makes it feel like it’s not so closed off here [like] the concrete jungle.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504744_684_default.jpg\")
Matthew Hendrickson and Kassandra Watanabe say being able to cross Portage and Main has been a welcome change. (Ron Dhaliwal\/CBC)<\/p>\n
Removal of the concrete barricades at Winnipeg’s iconic Portage Avenue and Main Street intersection began in October 2024, and the intersection was fully reopened on June 27, 2025.<\/p>\n
There has been minimal delay in travel times, a city spokesperson said in an email. <\/p>\n
“It’s important to acknowledge the intersection has become a safe, bustling part of downtown. Cars, people, bikes and larger vehicles can share streets,” said Jino Distasio, an urban planning professor and the University of Winnipeg interim president and vice-chancellor.<\/p>\n
“Most people have accepted that Portage and Main is just a busy street that connects four corners.”<\/p>\n
Approximately 4,000 pedestrians and 70,000 vehicles use the intersection on a typical weekday, the City of Winnipeg said.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504745_377_default.jpg\")
Not a single collision involving a pedestrian or cyclist has been reported since Portage and Main reopened. (Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n
The city studied four key routes that lead to and from the intersection, looking at morning and afternoon peak periods in November of 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
Morning travel in two of the four directions was unchanged, while the other two increased by less than a minute. In the afternoon, travel time on one route actually decreased by more than a minute, while it increased on the other three by less than three minutes.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504746_861_default.jpg\")
Travel time data recorded at Portage and Main by the City of Winnipeg, with commute times before and after the intersection reopened. (City of Winnipeg)<\/p>\n
Manitoba Public Insurance said it has seen a slight increase in reported collisions through the first six months of this year, but none have involved pedestrians.<\/p>\n
It studied data on the number of collisions at the intersection annually since 2021.<\/p>\n
As of June 23, there is only one collision reported involving a pedestrian, which occurred in 2024, and one collision involving a cyclist, in 2023.<\/p>\n
“The numbers reinforce that urban intersections can balance all kinds of transportation,” Distasio said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504746_987_default.jpg\")
Annual data on the number of reported collisions at the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street since 2021, and as of June 23, 2026. (Manitoba Public Insurance)<\/p>\n
Police spokesperson Const. Pat Saydak said officers have not been required to respond to or investigate any serious collisions since the intersection reopened and, in fact, any traffic enforcement at the location “has been minimal.”<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, the city agreed to a pitch by the Trizec\u00a0Corporation to build two office towers, a hotel and underground retail space that would double as a sheltered pedestrian crossing.<\/p>\n
The city saw it as an opportunity to resuscitate stagnant development and a decaying downtown retail environment. <\/p>\n
The deal included barricading the corner\u00a0for 40 years\u00a0once the project was complete in 1979<\/a>, redirecting pedestrians into an underground crossing and Trizec’s subterranean mall, Winnipeg Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n Retail hallways connect like spokes to a pedestrian roundabout directly below the intersection. The roundabout, known as the circus, offers access to all four surface corners through stairs, escalators or elevators.<\/p>\n In 2004, Mayor Glen Murray tried to build support to\u00a0reopen the corner, but property owners were not interested and neither was his successor,\u00a0Sam Katz. In 2018, Mayor Brian Bowman added a reopening plebiscite to the 2018 civic ballot<\/a>. <\/p>\n Winnipeggers\u00a0opposed the idea, with gridlock and longer commutes mentioned as the biggest roadblocks, so to speak.<\/p>\n Age ultimately decided the corner’s fate, with the physical deterioration of\u00a0concrete and weakening protection from the membrane that keeps water from flooding the underground concourse requiring action.<\/p>\n![\"Concrete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504747_648_default.jpg\")
For 46 years, concrete barricades blocked pedestrians from crossing Portage and Main. (Darren Bernhardt\/CBC)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782504748_55_default.jpg\")
Donavan Robinson has embraced the reopening of Portage and Main, even though his businesses are in the underground concourse. To get the T-shirt commemorating the intersection reopening above ground, you need to go below. (Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n