Stung Eye
Stung Eye

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In the late 90s I watched a “documentary” at the Pyramid —before a DJ Spooky show, I think— where some kids claimed to have found the ruins of an abandoned subway under Winnipeg. Since then I’ve heard many rumours about a past proposal for a ‘peg city metro.

From the truwinnipeg.org site:

In 1959, when renowned civil engineer Norman D. Wilson was asked to examine Winnipeg’s long-term transportation options, his report recommended building a subway.

Wilson admitted the expense would be gigantic —up to $500 Million 1959 dollars— but prophesied that if we failed to build, Winnipeg would suffer. Parking lots would become more valuable than buildings, giving land owners incentive to demolish. Cars would take over our downtown.

“In fact if a metropolitan city were to be wholly or even largely dependent on the private automobile for transportation, so much space would be taken up in roadways and so little left for business purposes, as to destroy the value of the district for the business uses that attracted the traffic in the first place.” —Norman D. Wilson

If the subway had been built, there would be a metro stop at the end of my block.

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