Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Yes, the old waterfront was a miserable area that nobody would visit except on business. I well remember the pungent smell of rotting fish and raw sewage.
However, look at what Boston did in recent years with their Big Dig project. The former Central Artery was undergrounded and the area above is now green space, with a large area of park and recreation space. While I would not consider that ideal for Halifax, a similar plan at least in sections would have allowed easy access to whatever use was intended for the waterfront, and surely at less cost than the Arm Bridge/rail cut developments mentioned by another member.
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At the time I thought a working waterfront was kind of cool actually, you know - real, not 'Disneyfied'. That said, I was just a kid at the time. I only recall the pungent fish smell around the Fisherman's Market, as soon as you stepped off the ferry. To be fair, the sewage smell was only due to Halifax's waste water strategy (or lack thereof) and was independent of roadway development, though one might question whether we could afford sewage treatment after having blown the wad on Harbour Drive.
A tunnel would be cool, but I can't imagine it being cheaper than the other options that I (the 'other member'... lol) mentioned. With the scenario you're suggesting, we would have paid for the Harbour Drive project, realize we made a mistake, and then paid for its demolition and the building of a tunnel... hardly the most economic strategy in my eyes.