Latest news with #GrahamAvenue
CTV News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
Painted roads already peeling
Winnipeg Watch A colourful part of the painted road on Graham Avenue is already in need of a touch-up.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
‘We're going to learn': Murals painted on Graham Avenue starting to peel and crack
Weeks after being painted as part of a pilot project to beautify a section of downtown Winnipeg, murals painted directly on Graham Avenue have started to peel. In June, four blocks of Graham Avenue were closed to vehicle traffic making the street a pedestrian friendly hub. As part of the hub, murals were painted on the street throughout July. However, as of Aug. 13, some of the paint is starting to chip away. Coun. Janice Lukes said they believe the paint chipping is due to the years of oil residual on the road, as it served as an active bus route until this summer. 'When something's a pilot, we experiment,' she said. 'We learn that it's not going to be perfect every time. So, I don't think people need to get worked up about this. We're going to touch it up. We're going to learn.' Graham Avenue mural Cracked paint is seen on a Graham Avenue mural on Aug. 13, 2025. (Hamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg) Cool Streets Winnipeg painted the murals over 10 days in July. A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg said the crews used a acrylic floor coating designed for exterior courts before the murals were painted. 'Despite our best efforts, however, the amount of imbedded oil in the concrete remains high due to all the buses that previously operated on the road. The peeling is happening in the same location on both sides of the road, likely based on vehicle oil pan placement,' the spokesperson said in a statement. graham avenue mural Cracked paint is seen on a Graham Avenue mural on Aug. 13, 2025. (Hamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg) The spokesperson added that the city declined to chemically treat the street before the painting happened, saying it would've added a week to the timeline and increased costs in addition to chemical run-off. They added the street was cleaned 'as thoroughly as possible' before the first coat of paint was applied. The painting was funded through a grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative, the city said. Funding is available for touch-ups in 2026, but no funding has been set aside for 2027 and beyond. 'As this is a pilot, we'll be able to use this data when considering the permanent redesign of the street,' the spokesperson said.
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Weeks after pedestrian-friendly facelift, paint already peeling on new Graham Avenue murals
Murals on the now pedestrian-friendly Graham Avenue were meant to bring a splash of colour to downtown Winnipeg. But just weeks after being painted, cracks are already beginning to form in some of that artwork. "I think anything that beautifies the downtown is a good project," downtown resident Barb Janes said on Wednesday. "I'm sad they didn't do more research on the paint, because it's already peeling up, and that's kind of disrespectful to the artists." After being used for three decades as a transit corridor, buses were moved off of Graham Avenue in July, when the city introduced its new transit plan, and a pilot project was introduced to transform the downtown street into a pedestrian corridor. Rochelle Squires, the CEO of CentreVenture, one of the downtown organizations that worked on transforming the area, said murals now on the street were funded through a $100,000 US grant from the American charity Bloomberg Philanthropies. The work was done by local company Cool Streets, over an approximately 10 day-period. On Tuesday, peeling paint could already be seen on some parts of the murals, and Squires said Cool Streets will be responsible for any repairs. "We understand that there's some repairs that need to be made to the street paint, and that's part of the maintenance agreement with Cool Streets," Squires said. "Ongoing maintenance will be part of that, absolutely." Stéphane Dorge of Cool Streets, who was the project manager on the mural project, blamed some of the peeling issues on the condition of the street, as well as the quick timeline in which the pieces were painted. "There's definitely more paint peeling than we had hoped for, but essentially two days before we started painting, this was an industrial road for transit buses only," Dorge said. "It was 20 years of transit buses leaking oil on the street, heavy tire wear really polishing the concrete, so we anticipated that longevity of the paint wouldn't be the same as using the product on brand new concrete or brand new asphalt, as we typically would." According to Dorge, the murals are only supposed to be on the street for this year and next year, before he said the city will work on a more permanent design for the corridor, and they do plan to touch up the murals at the end of this upcoming winter. "It's something that's meant to fade, it's meant to be replaced in the long term," he said. Despite the peeling, Dorge believes the murals are still a great benefit to the downtown. "It's definitely a challenge to work on this scale at this speed, and this type of surface, but I think the benefits far outweigh the visual impacts of the wear," Dorge said. In a statement the city of Winnipeg said, "Before the paint was applied we decided not to chemically treat the street, as this would have added at least a week to the timeline and increased costs and chemical run off. We did, however, clean it as thoroughly as possible prior to the first application. "As this is a pilot project, we'll be able to use this data when considering the permanent redesign of the street." Cracks forming in Winnipeg's plan to rejuvenate downtown street 11 hours ago The City of Winnipeg got to work this summer on a rejuvenation plan to give Graham Avenue a more dynamic feel, with the work including a street mural covering 24,000 square feet of road. Now, less than two months later, the street mural is peeling.
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Cracks forming in Winnipeg's plan to rejuvenate downtown street
The City of Winnipeg got to work this summer on a rejuvenation plan to give Graham Avenue a more dynamic feel, with the work including a street mural covering 24,000 square feet of road. Now, less than two months later, the street mural is peeling.
CBC
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Graham Avenue undergoes vibrant transformation in downtown Winnipeg
Work has begun on Graham Avenue to convert the downtown Winnipeg street into a colourful pedestrian corridor, with a team of nine local artists creating street murals and other public artwork that is interactive, playful and kid-friendly. The street is slated to open to pedestrians on July 11.
