Quote:
Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax
We don't know if stopping harbour drive was right or wrong. We can see what happened to Halifax when it was stopped but we of course cannot see what would have happened had it been built.
Good possibility we would have a waterfront with many tall skyscrapers overlooking the harbor, with a beautiful tree lined boulevard providing easy access to the downtown and a bridge over the Northwest Arm. Possibly Sackville would never been developed because the city would have grown to the west, rather than spread out. We may have grown more quickly because business was interested in a modern thinking Halifax. Possibly we would have major downtown shopping including department stores. We would have had a few less heritage properties because (Historic Properties) but we would still have a lot of heritage as well. We might have lost some but retained others.
Many cites have boulevards along the waterfront. Most of south Florida is a prime example and they have some very beautiful cities.
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Eh, maybe, but I doubt it. Virtually every city that went too far down the rabbit hole of mid 20th century traffic engineering and urban planning is now trying to backpedal out of those mistakes. Harbour Drive was all about devaluing the inner city as a place to live and expediting automobile commuting. I'm with the current majority opinion--it would've made Halifax worse. We're lucky it never happened. Out current, walkable, people-oriented waterfront is truly, unabashedly great. I wouldn't trade it for a highway and some high rises.