Joint Regional Transportation Agency

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Well, there we have it then. The election will be held prior to the release of the JRTA report.

[bartekci]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

Well, there we have it then. The election will be held prior to the release of the JRTA report.

When is the report meant to drop?

[Keith P.]

With HRM ridings being the only area of the province where the orange party has a presence, I think we can dismiss any significant provincial help in solving HRM transportation issues any time soon. Another foolish move by HRM-area voters.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

With HRM ridings being the only area of the province where the orange party has a presence, I think we can dismiss any significant provincial help in solving HRM transportation issues any time soon. Another foolish move by HRM-area voters.

I would hope that this is not the case. With the majority they have, now is the time to move forward with such projects. That said, with healthcare and housing still taking up much of the air in the room, transit almost seems like a side job (though one that will blow up in the future if it’s not started now).

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

With HRM ridings being the only area of the province where the orange party has a presence, I think we can dismiss any significant provincial help in solving HRM transportation issues any time soon. Another foolish move by HRM-area voters.

I very much doubt that. For one thing the PCs picked up seats in HRM, and also it's well known NDP always do well in dense urban areas, not just in this province but right across the country.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

With HRM ridings being the only area of the province where the orange party has a presence, I think we can dismiss any significant provincial help in solving HRM transportation issues any time soon. Another foolish move by HRM-area voters.

Cape Breton-Whitney Pier (the north side of Sydney) also went NDP.

I actually see the results as positive for provincial investment in HRM, as the PCs made big inroads into the urban area. A lot of suburban ridings flipped from Liberal to PC, including fairly central/urbanizing ones clustered around the harbour (Clayton Park West, Bedford South, Bedford Basin, Halifax Atlantic...). Former councillor Tim Outhit cleaned up in Bedford Basin, and I expect/hope he'll be a positive urban-ish voice.

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Cape Breton-Whitney Pier (the north side of Sydney) also went NDP.

I actually see the results as positive for provincial investment in HRM, as the PCs made big inroads into the urban area. A lot of suburban ridings flipped from Liberal to PC, including fairly central/urbanizing ones clustered around the harbour (Clayton Park West, Bedford South, Bedford Basin, Halifax Atlantic...). Former councillor Tim Outhit cleaned up in Bedford Basin, and I expect/hope he'll be a positive urban-ish voice.

Very true. Most people affected by the traffic live in the suburbs and outside the city. If you live downtown you're not as affected by the traffic. I live on the peninsula and don't feel too burdened by traffic congestions, but I have coworkers who live out in the suburbs who are stuck in traffic every day.

[q12]

Yeah nearly the entire Bi-Hi corridor went PC (Bedford-Clayton Park-Hammonds Plains) and the Dartmouth Suburbs (Cole Harbour etc.)

Champion of Commuter Rail Tim Outhit for Minister of Public Works (Transport)...

[q12]

The agency will also support work on a light-rail feasibility study and corridor assessment in its regional transportation plan, which is due to the government at the end of November.

https://news.novascotia.ca/en/2024/10/24/traffic-solutions-safety-improvements-major-highways



Time's up.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

The AI that lives in my Googletor is telling me 'late 2024' when i ask for the report release date. Depending on where that information originated it may or may not be true.

[someone123]

Not sure when the electoral districts would be redone or what that looks like, but the share of the provincial population in Halifax and Central NS has been going up over time. NS is likely over 50% metro Halifax, with the JRTA area being in the 70-80% ballpark.

This is like pretty much every other province that has some dominant city or region. I wonder if NSians and Canadians will start to think of NS as a more urbanized place where services like transit can help the lives of average people as much as or more than rural highway improvements. When I lived in NS it felt like areas like Cape Breton had an outsized influence relative to their population, and talking to people in BC and elsewhere there is still sometimes a sense that the "norm" in NS is rural. It's a bit strange in that they know about Halifax and think of it like a city, but if they think of NS they often imagine fishing villages and lighthouses. Ontario on the other hand is pretty much downtown Toronto in people's minds.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Tick tick tick... still no report. Meanwhile, NIMBY queen Peggy Cameron put forth in the comments section of ANS today that a signalized reversing lane on Robie Street is a solution to city transportation woes.

[q12]

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

Tick tick tick... still no report. Meanwhile, NIMBY queen Peggy Cameron put forth in the comments section of ANS today that a signalized reversing lane on Robie Street is a solution to city transportation woes.

Oh, good god no!

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Well, it seems our Houston govt. may keep the JRTA report secret, according to a story in ANS this morning.

[q12]

From CBC:

Opposition leaders express concerns about N.S. government secrecy


Government won't say if mandate letters, transportation report will be made public

Michael Gorman · CBC News · Posted: Jan 16, 2025 5:47 PM AST | Last Updated: January 16


Public Works Minister Fred Tilley cannot say if a report by the Joint Regional Transportation Agency will be made public. (CBC)

Public Works Minister Fred Tilley could not say if the government would make public the final report by the Joint Regional Transportation Agency, whenever that is delivered.

"We'll take a look at that and we'll get back to you on a release," he told reporters.

Pressed by reporters about why the document might not be made public, Tilley said it could contain information that is "not important to Nova Scotians or not relevant."

The Progressive Conservatives have already seen some portions of the report, which factored into announcements the Tories made just before and during the last provincial election about Highway 102 upgrades, the Hammonds Plains interchange and an assessment of the viability of a light rail system.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot...er-derek-mombourquette-secrecy-1.7433525

We'll (Nova Scotians) be the judge of that Freddy.

if they don't release it to the public.

[Drybrain]

Pressed by reporters about why the document might not be made public, Tilley said it could contain information that is "not important to Nova Scotians or not relevant."

That is of course ludicrous—it’s a publicly funded and produced report, developed with public input, which has been anticipated for some time as an important document to drive future transportation strategy. If it’s not “relevant,” people can decide that for themselves.

I can’t imagine any actual reason for keeping something this secret, besides that it may contain conclusions or recommendations that the government run contrary to the government’s preferred course of action. This is transparently paternalistic governance.

[MonctonRad]

They must want to hide something.

What! You want to recommend regional rail, even down to the valley and Truro??? Do you know how friggin' expensive that would be!!!!!

The public must never know of this recommendation. Let's keep it all secret.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Pressed by reporters about why the document might not be made public, Tilley said it could contain information that is "not important to Nova Scotians or not relevant."

That is of course ludicrous—it’s a publicly funded and produced report, developed with public input, which has been anticipated for some time as an important document to drive future transportation strategy. If it’s not “relevant,” people can decide that for themselves.

I can’t imagine any actual reason for keeping something this secret, besides that it may contain conclusions or recommendations that the government run contrary to the government’s preferred course of action. This is transparently paternalistic governance.

I suspect that the cost of the recommendations are too big a pill to swallow for a Rural based Government. Same old same old.Demographics are rapidly changing this age old pattern but the Premier and most of his Cabinet do not come from Metro Halifax. "The City gets too much". Believe me that's what I hear when I travel to C.B. for work despite the massive Hospital investments being made there.

I have heard that the new Hospital in Halifax is coming in way over initial estimates but the ship has been launched and the Province will probably not commit to any new large projects until the Hospital get substantially built.
So no new 101,103 or 104 Commitments and the Joint Transportation plan will collect dust until, again, the Hospital gets built.

What I have noticed recently vis a vis Provincial Finances has been a notable increase in Income Tax probably as a result of the influx of mid career Folks from all over Canada. Nova Scotia has received at least an extra 600 Million every tax year since Covid and the Tory's are making sure to spend every penny. I would venture a guess that N.S. has about 10-15 years of this revenue bump before Demographics bonks the cash. It might take ten of those years to deliver the new Hospital.

[Summerville]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

I suspect that the cost of the recommendations are too big a pill to swallow for a Rural based Government. Same old same old.Demographics are rapidly changing this age old pattern but the Premier and most of his Cabinet do not come from Metro Halifax. "The City gets too much". Believe me that's what I hear when I travel to C.B. for work despite the massive Hospital investments being made there.

I have heard that the new Hospital in Halifax is coming in way over initial estimates but the ship has been launched and the Province will probably not commit to any new large projects until the Hospital get substantially built.
So no new 101,103 or 104 Commitments and the Joint Transportation plan will collect dust until, again, the Hospital gets built.

What I have noticed recently vis a vis Provincial Finances has been a notable increase in Income Tax probably as a result of the influx of mid career Folks from all over Canada. Nova Scotia has received at least an extra 600 Million every tax year since Covid and the Tory's are making sure to spend every penny. I would venture a guess that N.S. has about 10-15 years of this revenue bump before Demographics bonks the cash. It might take ten of those years to deliver the new Hospital.

On a tangent here, but its probably also the reason why the province will never allow fracking for natural gas in this province. They would rather rely on transfer payments originating from federal tax revenue from the western fossil fuel industry than become self-sufficient. The rural vote.