Halifax councillors aren’t satisfied with a plan to reboot the Spring Garden Road bus-only pilot project, and it won’t happen this summer.
The municipality first tried, in July 2022, to close Spring Garden Road between South Park and Queen streets to traffic other than buses and bikes from 7am to 8pm. The pilot was supposed to last a year, but when drivers didn’t obey the signs, HRM shut it down after five days.
In September, council’s Transportation Standing Committee heard from staff on what went wrong. On Thursday, project manager Jason Genée brought the new plan to the committee.
Genée proposed adjusting the start time to 8am; better signage, including big variable message signs at either end of the street, and lane changes at South Park Street and Spring Garden Road; and a Halifax Transit supervisor on site to educate the public. The municipality would attempt to hire Halifax Regional Police officers on extra-duty to enforce the rules, but couldn’t guarantee they’d be available.
Councillors worried police wouldn’t be available to enforce the rules, and there’d just be a repeat of last summer.
“I have real concerns, maybe not so much for the pilot, but ongoing to think that police are going to be available to be hired to stay on there or patrol will have much time to dedicate to this,” Coun. Tim Outhit said.
“If you’re if your pilot is imperfect, your results are going to be imperfect, right?”
Councillors asked about the possibility of using construction-style traffic control or even crossing guards instead of police. But they were told that Nova Scotia’s Motor Vehicle Act allows only police to direct traffic.
Staff looking to traffic signals, not physical barriers
Coun. Shawn Cleary asked whether staff considered some sort of barrier, like a gate or barrels.
“We’re hoping to see that compliance will improve with the implementation through the pilot,” Genée said. “But the the assumption is that we will get to a point where through the pilot, we won’t need those physical implementations.”
Genée’s report outlined issues with gates, including malfunctions that could lead to delays for transit, defeating the purpose of the project.
Cleary said that’s not going to happen.
“People do not comply if there’s no authority nearby telling them they’re not allowed to. That’s just doesn’t happen,” Cleary said.
Staff would be looking instead to change the traffic lights at either end of the street, Patricia Hughes, Halifax Transit manager of planning and scheduling, told the committee.
“We don’t know what the permanent solution would look like until we do the pilot,” Hughes said. “But what we’ve discussed as staff is that that permanent solution is less likely to be a physical barrier, like a gate, and a possible future solution could be changes to the traffic signals.”
‘An insult to merchants and residents alike’
Sue Uteck, executive director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association, asked the committee to vote against the new pilot.
“Spring Garden is the heartbeat of Halifax. Reducing it to another experiment is an insult to merchants and residents alike,” Uteck told the committee. “It was a good try. We thank you. But let’s admit defeat and move on.”
Coun. Patty Cuttell moved to defer the vote pending another staff report responding to councillors’ concerns.
That report will include a look at physical barriers or changes to traffic signals; additional information on how staff will measure and assess impacts to surrounding streets; additional tools to ensure pedestrian safety; consultation with local businesses; and a communications plan.
Not going to happen this year
Brad Anguish, executive director of Public Works, told the committee that will mean the pilot won’t happen this summer.
“Yeah, we’re out of time,” Anguish said. “Part of the reason we’re rushed to get here now is to try and salvage this to make it happen for this summer. We’ve put before you, we’ve gone through all those elements. This is the best solution that we have based on these parameters.”
Anguish said if councillors change the parameters, particularly if they want to spend more money, staff can offer better solutions.
“We can go away and do that, but it’s not going to be for this summer,” Anguish said. “And that’s what we’re hearing from you, you want a better guarantee of success.”
Cleary agreed it’s not going to happen this year.
“I’m not looking for a guarantee of success. I’m looking for a higher probability that we can do a successful pilot that will give us enough data to say, ‘Yes, we should do this permanently,’ or ‘No, not going to work,'” Cleary said.
“It pains me that we would lose another year to try it again. But I’ll be honest to say I just don’t think we’re there yet in terms of making this pilot work.”
Cuttell agreed.
“It’s like short-term pain for long-term gain,” Cuttell said.
“Maybe in a year’s time, we’ll have some greater ability to look at traffic direction and enforcement as a piece of the puzzle here.”
Cuttell’s motion passed unanimously.