Halifax Active Transportation

[Dmajackson]

Bike Lanes installed on the Windsor Vernon Seymour Bikeway
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Halifax Regional Municipality Press Release

Starting tonight, Wednesday, October 2, 2013, Phase One of the Windsor-Vernon-Seymour Bikeway, will be installed. The work is scheduled to take place over two to four days during the evening and overnight hours. This is dependent on the weather. While the work is taking place, there may be minor traffic disruptions.

On June 25, 2013, Regional Council approved the development of the route as a central north-south cycling corridor on the peninsula. This phase consists of painted bike lanes on Windsor Street, extending from the intersection of Bayers Road and Young Street, south to the intersection of Welsford Street. Eventually, this will be a 3 km route that will provide a connected spine through the centre of the Halifax peninsula.

There will be are a number of changes associated with the installation of the bike lane, including the elimination of on-street parking on this section of Windsor Street. To help compensate for the reduction in on-street parking on Windsor Street, parking restriction changes will be made on some side streets to provide increased time limited parking for residents, guests and business customers. The streets include Welsford, Williams, Lawrence, Duncan, Summit and Windsor Terrace. Additional side street parking may be added in the future subject to usage and requests, and on the ability of each street to accommodate additional parking

There will also be modifications to some of the signalized intersections along the route. In particular, road users will note new shared lane signage and pavement markings at the intersection of Chebucto Road/Cunard Street and Windsor Street where the bike lane will be interrupted.

The Windsor-Vernon-Seymour Bikeway is one part of HRM’s Active Transportation Functional Plan. The plan identifies a number of streets for consideration for bike routes on the peninsula. Since the approval of the plan, new bike lanes have been added on a small section of Windsor Street north of Young Street, a section of Lower Water Street, and on Bell Road and South Park Streets. Segments of Active Transportation Greenway have been built adjacent to Barrington Street, Beaufort Avenue and Trollope Street. While these facilities are beneficial, a key objective in the next few years will be to connect these segments and further develop the on-road cycling network. The Windsor-Vernon-Seymour Bikeway will help in attaining this objective.

Information Page

I am so happy to see this going through. While the bike lanes will only be painted (no physical separation) they will go up to the intersections at Almon and North Streets which is a step up from existing bike lanes around HRM. The St. Pat's AT connection will be built next year and if policy is approved the Vernon-Seymour section will be upgraded from a signed bike route to a Local Street Bikeway. I haven't seen the plans for awhile now but I think the new AT Plan will include cross-connections at Welsford Street (to the mid-Commons crosswalk on Robie Street), University Avenue, and Almon Street.