On Wednesday, Halifax council will discuss its “parking lot” budget items — about $2.6 million in additional costs or programs that city staff have not included in department budgets, but that councillors felt should be considered for the 2018-19 budget. Two items on the list will impact the future of the publicly funded transit network,...
Is Gottingen the right street for a bus express lane?
Because the ramp from Barrington Street to the Macdonald Bridge is too tight a turn for buses, the north end business district could be turned into a bus expressway.
This afternoon, city council’s transportation committee will consider whether or not to continue planning for a north-bound bus lane along part of Gottingen Street. The plan would see 51 parking and loading spaces removed from both sides of the street, to make room for two vehicle lanes and one northbound bus lane starting at Cogswell […]
Growing a city where transit works
In August 2016, shortly after Halifax Transit’s Moving Forward Together plan was revealed to all, I interviewed transit planning consultant Jarrett Walker about the route re-design process. Walker makes a living helping cities rethink their bus networks, and has visited Halifax in the past at the invite of local advocacy group It’s More Than Buses....
Examineradio, episode #140: Which wine goes with this spliff?
On Thursday we learned the NSLC will have a monopoly on weed sales when cannabis is legalized next year. The province also said people will be allowed to have up to 30 grams for personal use and grow up to four plants per household. The legal age is set at 19. We reached out […]
The Great Cogswell Screw-Up, Round 2?
In 1970, city planners refused to listen to the public and built the Cogswell Interchange, now recognized as a colossal screw-up. Today, a new group of city planners is working to tear down the Cogswell and build an extension to downtown, but they're mostly working in the dark and eschewing public consultation. Will this be the Great Cogswell Screw-up, Round 2?
There were a few golden moments at the Art of City Building conference held yesterday at the Central Library, one in particular when architectural historian and critic Hans Ibelings shared a favourite cartoon: One planner says to another, “Let’s replace the mistakes of the past… with new ones.” The joke is relevant in Halifax these […]
Here’s what we need for a great new Mumford Terminal
The city must first make big decisions on commuter rail and transit lanes in order to get the bus terminal right.
It’s finally happening. The city has started planning its redo of the ghastly, despised Mumford Terminal. The city has hired Dillon Consulting for phase one: figuring out where the heck to put the thing, designing how it will work, and giving a rough guess at how much it will cost to build. Dillon needs to...
Turning the corner on street design
Halifax has over 100 channelized right turns, and only a few may be actually warranted
Because it’s en route to my kid’s school, I cross the intersection at North and Gottingen Streets roughly four times a day, and it is hands-down the most stressful 75 metres of the kilometre-long commute. I hadn’t really considered why that was until a transportation planner from Toronto named it for me: channelized right turns....
The future of cycling in Halifax may be bright, assuming we get around to it
Last week Halifax’s active transportation team presented their vision for the future of cycling in Halifax to a packed room at the Central Library. There was not much new in the presentation, more a summation of the latest in bike planning soon to be released as part of the Integrated Mobility Plan, which goes to...
Hammond Plains school kids get to experience what it’s like to be on a cruise ship: Morning File, Friday, June 9, 2017
News 1. Marine Protected Area The Department of Fisheries and Oceans yesterday officially designated the St. Anns Bank Marine Protected Area: Located east of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, this Marine Protected Area helps conserve and protect many ecologically and biologically significant features, including important habitats, areas of high biodiversity and biological productivity, and endangered and threatened […]
Why we need a great transportation plan
Last chance for the public to weigh in on the Integrated Mobility Plan
Just about a year ago HRM hired Rod McPhail to head up a team of Halifax city staffers from Transportation and Public Works, Halifax Transit, and Planning and Development to write Halifax’s first Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP), a 15-year transportation plan for the region. To those of you who shudder at the thought of yet...