Whiteout Street Party forcing road closures in downtown Winnipeg

Thousands of fans took over Donald Street for the Whiteout Street Party on April 21, 2024. (Zachary Kitchen/CTV News Winnipeg)

The Winnipeg Jets are hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night for Game 5 of the playoff series, which means a Whiteout Street Party will be taking over downtown Winnipeg.

Due to the party, a number of road closures will be put in place beginning on Tuesday morning. This includes:

• Southbound Donald Street between Portage Avenue and St. Mary Avenue. This closure will be in place from 9 a.m. on Tuesday until 3 a.m. on Wednesday; and
• Graham Avenue in both directions between Hargrave Street and Smith Street from 9 a.m. on Tuesday until 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

The following sidewalks will close on Tuesday at noon and reopen overnight on Wednesday:

• Donald Street between Portage Avenue and St. Mary Avenue; and
• The north side of Graham Avenue between Hargrave Street and Smith Street.

The City of Winnipeg advises drivers to plan for additional travel time and to use alternate routes.

Transit changes

Along with road closures, there will also be some transit reroutes due to the Whiteout Street Party.

Winnipeg Transit buses will be rerouted off of Graham Avenue between Kennedy and Smith Streets beginning at 9 a.m. Regular service will be restored on Wednesday.

During this detour, buses will not be able to stop for passengers. Those who need to catch the buses affected by the reroutes can go to the stops at the following intersections: Graham Avenue and Vaughan Street, Graham Avenue and Fort Street, Donald Street and Ellice Avenue, and Donald Street and York Avenue.

Amid the reroutes, the Winnipeg Transit Plus loading zone on southbound Donald Street at Graham Avenue will be temporarily moved to eastbound Portage Avenue near the Radisson Hotel. The Millennium Library loading zone will be relocated to the Winnipeg police headquarters’ eastbound front driveway, while the City Place loading zone will be moved to northbound Hargrave Street on the north side of St. Mary Avenue.

The City of Winnipeg notes that the Millennium Library will be closing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The library parkade’s Donald Street entrance and exit will be closed from 9 a.m. on Tuesday until 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

Colorado leads the series 3-1 over the Jets. Tuesday’s game begins at 8:30 p.m.