Halifax's Street Network
 

HIGHWAY 101 - MARGESON DRIVE INTERCHANGE & EXTENSION | UNDERWAY (THREAD)
HIGHWAY 102 - LARRY UTECK BOULEVARD INTERCHANGE | COMPLETED - 2010 (THREAD)
HIGHWAY 102 - WASHMILL LAKE DRIVE UNDERPASS & EXTENSION | COMPLETED - 2011 (THREAD)
HIGHWAY 107 - BURNSIDE EXPRESSWAY | PROPOSED (THREAD)
HIGHWAY 107 - CHERRY BROOK BYPASS | THEORETICAL (THREAD)
HIGHWAY 113 - HAMMONDS PLAINS BYPASS | PROPOSED (THREAD)

HALIFAX AREA ROUNDABOUTS (THREAD)

There certainly are some very interesting street layouts in the Halifax area, undoubtedly because of the topography.

I have noticed in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that newer residential areas have streets purposely laid out in unusual configurations to slow traffic down and to create more interesting, cozy neighbourhoods. Industrial areas tend to be more grid-like. For example, a newer neighbourhood in Mississauga - newer Mississauga versus older Toronto

Mississauga has fairly well laid out main through-fairs with winding, twisting side streets.

At the opposite end of the country, the high density areas of Vancouver seem to be grid-like but they also have suburban Coquitlim which is certainly not (I have been to Vancouver and Coquitlim a few times and I thought that it was a beautiful urban area) - Vancouver area

Simms Corner in Saint John NB is similar if not worse, as there are not even stop lights at that corner, just mass chaos.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...12,191.56,,0,0

Don't hate on Simms corner, it's one of our best oddity attractions!

Odd yes, but simply unsafe, especially during the high tourism season with confused out of town drivers rolling around.

Confused, and holding their noses as they drive by the pulp mill. :haha:

I hate Simm's Corner. That's the main reason why I hardly ever take the Reversing Falls Bridge. :yuck:

Wasn't there a plan out there to redesign this intersection?

BTW - this thread has been officially hijacked. Five out of the seven posts so far are about an arcane intersection in Saint John!!

ok... well the segue back to Hali is that there is certainly a similarity between cities like SJ and Hfx in terms of the challenges of laying down roads on rocky hilly coastal areas that aren't large spaces. You end up with very little grid, and lots of wandering roads with weird intersections that take in all kinds of other wandering roads.

Quite different from when I lived in the southwest US, where the cities are all laid out as perfect grids aligned with the mountain range.

It is also a big challenge in cities like Hfx that had the core downtown roads designed pre-automobile, where as cities in the west tend to have more "modern" road layouts.

That doesn't excuse some of the crap intersections we have (which are often just poor planning), but certainly explains some of the oddities of our roadways.

Yeah there was a plan to replace it with a roundabout, but then another study determined that there wasn't enough physical space to put one in, so they have a new alternative using traffic lights I believe, but it's behind schedule in its implementation.

As a full-time worker in Burnside I have spent a lot of time thinking of what can be done to improve the area. As a result here is a map of my ideas so far. Only changes are shown (areas kept the same aren't depicted). The map is mainly for the Windmill Road section;

Burnside Roads

Found a map showing the proposed widening of Joe Howe Drive from the 102 overpass to Scott Avenue. I'm not really against this since it is a choke point right now but I am glad to see the funds go more important projects for the time being;

Joe Howe Turning Lanes

This is badly needed and would bring a major improvement to a very badly-designed and overloaded section of Joe Howe for minimal money. Are you suggesting it has been shelved? If so, what is the rationale? his should be near the top of any list of improvement projects.

This would be such a huge improvement. Hopefully the southbound inner lane at Joe Howe and Mumford can also become a turn/Thru lane. Needless lane changing occurs there.

There was some work going on in that area this morning. Does anyone have info on whether or not it is the widening of Joe Howe?

Stakes are in the ground and work should start anytime on this improvement.

Maybe they'll finally tack out the damn rail tracks in the intersections! :hell:

Tourist traffic creating gridlock on Halifax streets


CTV Atlantic
Published Thursday, Jul. 19, 2012 6:49PM ADT

If you plan to visit downtown Halifax over the next few days, you should probably plan ahead.

Thousands of people are converging on the waterfront for the Tall Ships Festival, creating gridlock on downtown streets.

“You have to know what one-way street you want to go down and as you're going down, you have to watch for pedestrian traffic, you have to be careful of construction and you have to have eyes in the back of your head and everything,” says spectator Wanda Johnson.

Navigating through a maze of traffic has pushed people to weigh their options.

“I think I'm staying the night the whole weekend so I won't have to drive downtown,” says spectator Keith Johnson.

Along with the traffic congestion comes parking problems. Some spots will even be temporarily blocked off.

Link

Traffic is a nightmare the last few days. HRM allowing road construction downtown during all of this does not help matters. Unlike other years, Metro Transit is not running any special "Tall Ships" shuttles downtown either, which adds to the traffic woes. Even downtown Dartmouth is short of parking as people try parking there and taking the ferry - no dice.

WDC seems to be beating this tall ships horse to death. Having them here every couple of years really takes away the cachet. This year's crop of arrivals is not very impressive either. Seems pretty second-string although the stuff going on in support on the Waterfront is still drawing crowds. I'm steering clear.

having been in Calgary for near a decade now I can understand,every year come Stampede I high tail'er out of here . loses it's luster after awhile.:shrug:

Having been away from Halifax for so long, I actually don't mind the fact tall ships would be every 3 years. I'm annoyed my work schedule didn't allow me to go this year. As for Stampede, I look at that and things like Tall Ships for the tourism and spin off in terms of economy (not just for the enjoyment). Stampede was huge this year...I wouldn't be upset if Halifax had an event like that every year. The spin offs would be great.

Keith does make a good point about the roads though. Poorly timed construction doesn't help and some friends were saying that MT hadn't really done a good job at advertising the fact that there was different services for Tall Ships. But Keith is right, there doesn't seem to be any 'special' services as far as their website is concerned.
Metro Transit Tall Ship Service

Metro Transit isn't doing anything, but the DHBC is running a free shuttle: http://downtownhalifax.ca/index.php/news/big-blue-bus/