Halifax Active Transportation

[Dmajackson]

AT Infrastructure Built in 2013

Bike Lanes :

- Chain Lake Drive (Lovett Lake Ct - west of Susie Lake/Washmill) - 0.7km
- Dunbrack Street (Ross St - Langbrae) - 0.8km
- Kearney Lake Rd (Bluewater - Belle) - 1.3km
- Old Sambro Rd (Dentith - Macintosh) - 0.2km
- Windsor Street (Bayers/Young - Welsford) - 1.5km
- Wright Ave (John Savage - Findlay) - 0.6km

In addition ;

Hammonds Plains Road - New paved shoulders from Giles Rd - Lewis Drive and from Farmers Dairy Lane - Kearney Lake Rd. This means there is now bike lanes from Hwy 102 - Giles, and WPS from Giles - Kearney Lake Rd (with a small gap). I think WPS were installed on a portion near Tantallon in 2012 as well.

Caldwell Rd now has WPS from MacDonald Beach Rd to Hines Rd (1.7km).

Greenways were installed in Second Lake P.P. (3.7km), and Carrolls Corner (0.5km). Lawrencetown-Cole Harbour Greenway was extended by 0.95km, and the Mainland North Linear Parkway was extended from Main St - Washmill Lake (0.25km).

---

While I will always want to see more AT infrastructure built the amount built this year is significant and helps connect and extend existing infrastructure. For example;

Dunbrack Street now has dedicated bike lanes from Willett Street - Ross Street (2.6km)

Bayers Lake now has bike lanes along most of its "loop" roads, two connections to the Chain of Lakes Trail, and one connection to Mount Royale.

Kearney Lake Road has dedicated bike lanes from Highway 102 - Bluewater Road (4.5km).

Most important of all is the new Windsor Street bike lane. This is a massive step forward towards making Urban Halifax bicycle friendly.

[Keith P.]

Shamefully ill-conceived and thus a waste of public funds.

[halifaxboyns]

Here is a great presentation by Janette Sadik-Khan - the Commission of New York's Transportation Department on changing the nature of streets in NYC. She was able to transform Times Square by just realizing her power to change the lane lines on city streets. She also helped create the first protected bikeways in all of the US and the results were dramatic. This presentation is meant to provide ideas and make us realize that we can try things on a temporary basis to understand the impacts and then move forward. Mayor Nenshi out here in Calgary has been pushing that and many things (particularly with the Roads department) that we wouldn't normally have done, happen and when we realize life as we know it doesn't end, seem to be becoming permanent.

[rkannegi]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Here is a great presentation by Janette Sadik-Khan - the Commission of New York's Transportation Department on changing the nature of streets in NYC. She was able to transform Times Square by just realizing her power to change the lane lines on city streets. She also helped create the first protected bikeways in all of the US and the results were dramatic. This presentation is meant to provide ideas and make us realize that we can try things on a temporary basis to understand the impacts and then move forward. Mayor Nenshi out here in Calgary has been pushing that and many things (particularly with the Roads department) that we wouldn't normally have done, happen and when we realize life as we know it doesn't end, seem to be becoming permanent.

The NYC presentation fits in very well with my own reasoning for suggesting the partial shutdown of Rainnie Drive between Gottingen Street and North Park Street. I made that suggestion very openly at the public engagement session on the North Park Street Roundabouts that was held on February 27, 2013, when we were arranged in random groups, where the group I ended up with (which included Jennifer Watts) suddenly wanted me to act as their spokesperson once we had our turn on the microphone, as soon as I made mention of Rainnie Drive during our group discussion. (When I spoke on the mike of closing Rainnie Drive west of Gottingen, either partially or completely, the whole room of 150 plus people went from a dull roar to dead silence until I was done speaking.) Not surprisingly, HRM's plans now feature a partial closure of Rainnie.

(Rainnie Drive's imminent partial closure is currently being discussed on the "Roundabouts in HRM" thread):

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=180317&page=7

FAQ On Rainnie Drive on the Shape Your City Page:

http://shapeyourcityhalifax.ca/faq/index/15

Quote of a line in the answer to the question "If Rainnie Drive is expected to carry less traffic, where will the other traffic go?":

(Quote)

Reconfiguration of the affected section of Rainnie Drive is expected to have the most critical impacts at the North Park/Cogswell and Gottingen/Cogswell intersections. Cogswell Street, which runs roughly parallel to Rainnie Drive, would be required to accommodate the majority of traffic redistributed from Rainnie. Given the assumed increase in traffic volumes, additional capacity will be required at the intersection of Gottingen and Cogswell.

Interim intersection upgrades have been reviewed and the recommendation is to modify the Gottingen northbound approach from a shared left-through with exclusive right turn lane, to an exclusive left with a shared through-right turn lane. An eastbound right turn channel on Cogswell will also be implemented. Signal timings will be adjusted accordingly. These upgrades will enable the intersection to accommodate volumes in the short-term (5-10 years) with relatively minimal associated costs. In the longer term, it is expected that additional lane capacity will be required to accommodate additional traffic growth. Diverted traffic will also be anticipated to impact Cornwallis and Cunard streets, but to a much lesser degree than that of Cogswell Street.

(Unquote)

Based on the above quote, I presume that HRM will widen the narrow section of Cogswell in the future (beyond the 5-10 year horizon).

Cheers,

Richard Kannegiesser

[MPotter]

Any news on the the RFP for the bridges proposed under the Halifax Urban Greenway?

http://www.halifaxurbangreenway.org/reports/bridges_tender_extracts.pdf

Would be great to see progress on these.

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by MPotter

Any news on the the RFP for the bridges proposed under the Halifax Urban Greenway?

http://www.halifaxurbangreenway.org/reports/bridges_tender_extracts.pdf

Would be great to see progress on these.

If you are on HUGA's email list you should of received an email discussing the southern extension of the trail to Franklyn Street including the rail-cut bridge. Simply put the email says a construction date is still unknown but detailed design work is still under way. In order for the bridge to be approved and funded SMU must sign a land deal followed by HRM's approval of the funding, and then public consultation will occur to address any issues.

[halifaxboyns]

Thought I would share these (since as you all know, I'm a huge fan of Dan Burden). He helped do a couple movies for a Chicago based group on Traffic Calming and Road Diets. This has implications for active transportation and actually allows vehicle traffic to move more efficiently (while providing space for bikes/pedestrians).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Thought I would share these (since as you all know, I'm a huge fan of Dan Burden). He helped do a couple movies for a Chicago based group on Traffic Calming and Road Diets. This has implications for active transportation and actually allows vehicle traffic to move more efficiently (while providing space for bikes/pedestrians).

Frankly, it's just more anti-car BS. The second I heard the phrase "Bicycle Coalition" I knew it was misguided left-wing nonsense.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Frankly, it's just more anti-car BS. The second I heard the phrase "Bicycle Coalition" I knew it was misguided left-wing nonsense.

Said by a professional transportation planner I see...

[rkannegi]

There is a pilot project that was just launched by the City of Thunder Bay: a bike repair station (a structure with integrated bike repair tools). They are going to see how it holds up through this summer, and if successful, other bike repair stations will be built in other areas of Thunder Bay (i.e. at Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay's North Core, which may also get a 6500 seat Events Centre arena).

City (of Thunder Bay) introduces first-ever bike repair station

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/artsandlife/336975/City-introduces-first-ever-bike-repair-station

If Thunder Bay succeeds at this, this would be something seriously worth considering by Halifax Regional Municipality, starting with the Peninsula, Fairview and Inner Dartmouth.

Considering the severe winters that Thunder Bay gets, it's impressive how that city is seriously looking at making its transportation system more multimodal.

Change of plans (City of Thunder Bay Official Plan - its equivalent of HRM's Regional Plan)

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/332887/Change-of-plans

As a matter of fact, 42% of new construction in Thunder Bay in 2013 was infill. Now that's what I call a Change of Plans!

Oh, if anyone wants to call the above articles from Thunder Bay "Anecdotal", feel free, but be prepared to get a royal rassing, "Cogswell Style".

Now, let's see if HRM can achieve maximum infill like Thunder Bay (but which should also include REAL affordable housing, not just for renters, but for owners too). HRM's Cogswell District Plan has potential of opening the door to more infill, as long as they plan carefully, which HRM seems to be doing. Yes, careful planning necessitates some patience.

Now with the Cogswell District Plan leaning toward making all of Cogswell a four-lane divided boulevard, I would strongly recommend amending the design of the North Park/Cogswell Roundabout to feature two east-west through lanes in each direction of Cogswell in order to avoid breaking the design consistency of the four-lane Cogswell boulevard (unless if the left lane in each direction is solely used for left turns at each controlled intersection east of North Park Street).

Now with the knowledge of the new Cogswell District Plan in the making, it would be nice if it was possible for HRM to immediately partially close the west section of Rainnie now (in 2014), make the Cogswell intersection on North Park into a temporary 4-way traffic signal (have all of the altered portions of road at North Park/Cogswell bounded by temporary white-painted asphalt curbs and temporary asphalt sidewalks, with unaltered sections of that intersection remaining in place until ultimate roundabout construction in 2015) and have the "boulevard" cross section immediately fitted to Cogswell between North Park and Gottingen (also build the permanent right turn lane on eastbound Cogswell at Gottingen and extend Gottingen down to the Metro Centre).

Let alone cleaning up Cogswell, I can't wait to see Gottingen extended! (to remove that annoying Stop sign that holds up Gottingen at the Citadel)

Cheers,

Richard Kannegiesser

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by rkannegi

There is a pilot project that was just launched by the City of Thunder Bay: a bike repair station (a structure with integrated bike repair tools). They are going to see how it holds up through this summer, and if successful, other bike repair stations will be built in other areas of Thunder Bay (i.e. at Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay's North Core, which may also get a 6500 seat Events Centre arena).

City (of Thunder Bay) introduces first-ever bike repair station

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/artsandlife/336975/City-introduces-first-ever-bike-repair-station

Are municipal auto-body shops next on the agenda?

[JET]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Are municipal auto-body shops next on the agenda?

given the number of cars that are damaged due to pot holes not being fixed, a municipal car repair shop might be a very good idea

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by rkannegi

There is a pilot project that was just launched by the City of Thunder Bay: a bike repair station (a structure with integrated bike repair tools). They are going to see how it holds up through this summer, and if successful, other bike repair stations will be built in other areas of Thunder Bay (i.e. at Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay's North Core, which may also get a 6500 seat Events Centre arena).

City (of Thunder Bay) introduces first-ever bike repair station

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/artsandlife/336975/City-introduces-first-ever-bike-repair-station

If Thunder Bay succeeds at this, this would be something seriously worth considering by Halifax Regional Municipality, starting with the Peninsula, Fairview and Inner Dartmouth.

There is already a small public "fix-it" station at the foot of the MacDonald Bridge on the Halifax side. I think I also seen something in Victoria Park not too long ago.

Having a repair station on the Halifax Commons, Burnside Greenway, Bedford Highway, and Windsor Street should cover most of the cyclists in town.

[rkannegi]

Originally Posted by JET

given the number of cars that are damaged due to pot holes not being fixed, a municipal car repair shop might be a very good idea

In that regard, having auto damage repaired by a municipal shop may mitigate the issue of some private-sector shops potentially inflating repair costs that they know arose due to broken roads. Private-sector shop "book cooking" risks inflating the payout costs for claims successfully made against affected municipalities. In regards to general vehicle repairs that are not due to damaged public road infrastructure, I would not expect a municipal garage to entertain those repairs, at least not without charging fair market rate (and that's only if they have space to entertain those extra repair jobs, i.e. during summer lull) - No Free Lunch.

On the other hand, we would need to look at the cost-effectiveness of a municipal auto shop for public-road-related damage to private vehicles before even having this considered, since we don't need a repeat of the Nova Scotia Government Asphalt Plant that turned out to be a Money Pit. If municipally-owned garages are found to be cost-effective for public-damage repairs to private vehicles, I would support having them. In cases of damages due to broken Provincial roads, the Province should foot the bill (and if there's enough public-road damage incidents to private vehicles on Provincial roads, the Province may need to look at having its own set of garages).

Rather than always relying on a reactive system of damage claims and lawsuits (that ties up the court system and that keeps court costs high), we need to shift to a more proactive stance of not only maintaining public roads to a high standard (within reason, according to class of road facility, traffic volume and operating speed), but also be proactive about getting affected vehicles fixed too (be it cars, trucks, peddle bikes, etc).

Cheers,

Richard Kannegiesser

[pblaauw]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

There is already a small public "fix-it" station at the foot of the MacDonald Bridge on the Halifax side. I think I also seen something in Victoria Park not too long ago.

Having a repair station on the Halifax Commons, Burnside Greenway, Bedford Highway, and Windsor Street should cover most of the cyclists in town.

There's also one underneath the concrete bridge that leads to the Hfx Ferry Terminal, by the Stayner's back door.

[Colin May]

A message for cyclists :
Please be more considerate of public parks.
Stay on the pathways.
Stay off the grass, particularly in Dartmouth Common & Sullivans Pond.
You are damaging grassy areas and causing them to wash out.
The topsoil is very shallow.
Cutting across the grass at Sullivans Pond for a shortcut rather than using the paved pathway is lazy, selfish and thoughtless. It saves all of 2 seconds and it looks a mess. Or you can stay on the road, turn left off Dahlia onto Crichton and then right onto Hawthorne.
Or perhaps you would prefer being banned from cycling in the 2 parks.

[Keith P.]

Dear Mr May: You apparently didn't receive the memo. Cyclists are exempt from all rules and laws, because they are god's gift to humankind. The rest of us must bow down and provide them with whatever infrastructure they demand, even if it never used. That is all. Over.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Dear Mr May: You apparently didn't receive the memo. Cyclists are exempt from all rules and laws, because they are god's gift to humankind. The rest of us must bow down and provide them with whatever infrastructure they demand, even if it never used. That is all. Over.

I have photos of the mess made by the inconsiderate cyclists but don't know how to upload them from my computer.

[Dmajackson]

Photo by Dmajackson a.k.a. Urban_Halifax on flickr.com

[curnhalio]

Yes the new crosswalk paintings have cropped up on Windsor St, South Park, and others. I have to say it does force you to be aware well in advance of the crosswalk. I'm curious to see how they fade and how long that will take. They're still no substitute for both cars and pedestrians to be aware of each other.