I think everybody understands the purpose of bike infrastructure. Drivers don't want to "mow down cyclists", but at the end of the day driving can be difficult, especially during traffic and when there are narrower streets with less room to maneuver. Throw in inclement weather and darkness to decrease visibility and a bicycle mixed in with vehicle traffic can disappear to the motorist with tragic results. Yeah, we all get that, I think. Personally, I support adding cycling infrastructure to Halifax's streets. I think we've needed it for a long time, and frankly I've been disappointed by how little the existing appears to be used, but hold onto the "build it and they will come" attitude.
Your assertion that the flyover ramp appears to be the only safe way to handle cycling infrastructure at the Halifax side of the Macdonald is what I'm questioning.
Yeah, avoiding a hill is "nice", and I agree that it would make going to Gottingen much easier for those with standard bicycles. However, to many of us, this sounds like a "want" rather than a "need". As I mentioned previously, Halifax and Dartmouth have many hills that can make cycling challenging at times... I know this because I've probably biked up 90% of the hills over the years and can admit to using the granny gear at times on the steeper ones, or stopping to catch my breath on occasion. Every cyclist will have to accept that their ride will involve climbing a hill for most runs through the city, but for some reason, this one hill is special in that we need a $12.7M ramp to get us there? If this is built will there be a need for a flyover ramp on the Dartmouth side? That Nantucket hill is a long one.
I see that intersection as being contentious, and there needs to be improvements to ensure the safety of cyclists, but it's hard to accept that this "deluxe" version is the only way to do it. It seems to me that perhaps a solution that costs less but still provides safety could mean that part of this $12.7M could be spread around to upgrade other parts of the cycling network that desperately need it, rather than blowing the wad at the Halifax side of the Macdonald while the rest of the network remains incomplete and disconnected, in some cases.
Can you provide a source for your assertion that this flyover ramp will only cost the city $2M? I did some searching but couldn't come up with anything conclusive - the closest I found was this article from 2019:
$25M allows Halifax to shift bike lane project into high gear
From the article:
Halifax's share equals 17%, which sounds great, but that $25M total is for all of the infrastructure in the plan (30 km), and the bridge flyover was estimated at $6.2M, not the current $12.7M. I understand that the actual costs of all of the infrastructure has increased as well, and unless the feds and the province have increased their shares from the $20.75M mentioned in the article, then the city taxpayers are paying for the cost overruns, are they not? As it stands, the flyover ramp will eat up over half the cycling infrastructure budget for the entire city, and it hasn't even been built yet - actual costs of building can easily exceed estimates once unanticipated problems are found during the construction process, so we don't even know the end cost of this yet.
Which is why I question whether a better, safe, version could be built that will allow more of the budget to go to other bike infrastructure projects in the city.
Again, I think everybody wants cyclists to be safe in reality, but unless you intend to provide cyclists with lifts and ramps throughout the city, hills are just part of the daily ride, and this hill is just one more. E-bikes are great in that they will allow people who otherwise might not cycle to conquer the hills with ease, but I can't be convinced that helping to level out this
one hill in Halifax is going to be a deciding point for somebody choosing whether to cycle or not. It just sounds like rhetoric to me, if I can be direct in conveying my thoughts.