Halifax Active Transportation

[ILoveHalifax]

I see a post about big news on this thread and assume it is reporting that Watts got a new bicycle.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

I see a post about big news on this thread and assume it is reporting that Watts got a new bicycle.

Hope it has studded tires.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I wonder if Halifax could support a small bike-sharing system like bixi. I used that in Montreal and found it quite enjoyable.

Originally Posted by Wishblade

I just read the other day that somebody is starting up a personal bike sharing business. Here is the link to the story:


article continued here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1249190.html

Originally Posted by beyeas

Yeah I have been in Montreal a lot lately, and was wondering the same thing (although of course Montreal is really just trying to copy Paris LOL).

It is a cool idea, although Halifax's geography doesn't lend itself as well to this, given that many within-downtown trips are made by going up and down the hill, which might mean many people would rather walk than bike. Still... cool idea.

The QEII has a program like that internally. There are bikes at the summer street entrance of the infirmary for example, and you can basically just sign one out using your CDHA badge.

After stumbling across this article in the international transportation section that mentioned Portland ME's plans for bike sharing, it really made me think harder about the idea for our own. I whipped up this little map showing a small 20 station system patterned off Montreal.



https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z8TrJnU9kYKM.kmnkdKaSg8q4

[Dmajackson]

I think we're going to need some more bicycle parking. All of the plaza and Queen St racks were claimed today and it's only going to get busier;


Halifax Developments (Photo by David Jackson)

The University Avenue protected bike lane has been approved and Dalhousie plans to install it in June. Public consultation for the remainder of the University/Morris corridor will occur later this year.

Hollis Street bike lane will be installed this summer. It will be located on the left-side of the street and have a painted buffer. Terminal Road will be be converted to a 3-way stop with relocated crosswalks.

[pblaauw]

Painted bike lanes are another reason why someone, somehow, somewhere needs to route trucks through the railcut.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I think we're going to need some more bicycle parking. All of the plaza and Queen St racks were claimed today and it's only going to get busier;

Bike congestion is ruining downtown. Let them take the bus or walk like the rest of us slobs are supposed to.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Bike congestion is ruining downtown. Let them take the bus or walk like the rest of us slobs are supposed to.

Car congestion is ruining downtown. Let them take the bus or walk like the rest of us slobs are supposed to.

Keith, aren't you always complaining that there aren't enough cyclists to justify infrastructure. Now you're complaining that there are too many cyclists so we shouldn't give them infrastructure. Which is it?

[Nouvellecosse]

Some people are willing to use whatever talking points they can find to erode transit and active transport and ultimately to support unfettered car access. The arguments don't have to be consistent or logical, as long as they can gain some type of traction with people.

[JET]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I think we're going to need some more bicycle parking. All of the plaza and Queen St racks were claimed today and it's only going to get busier;


Halifax Developments (Photo by David Jackson)

The University Avenue protected bike lane has been approved and Dalhousie plans to install it in June. Public consultation for the remainder of the University/Morris corridor will occur later this year.

Hollis Street bike lane will be installed this summer. It will be located on the left-side of the street and have a painted buffer. Terminal Road will be be converted to a 3-way stop with relocated crosswalks.

if the parking spots on university are lost between Robie andSoutpark, that will have a huge impact on hospital parking, even now the hospital lots are full, and usually it's people with mobility issues.

[cptstubing]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Bike congestion is ruining downtown. Let them take the bus or walk like the rest of us slobs are supposed to.

How can something like a bike cause congestion? My bike is 1/7 my body weight and is probably 1/5 my volume. I take my bike downtown. I can pick it up and move it out of the way. I can park it *anywhere* something protrudes from the ground, within reason.

My car weighs 26x my body weight, and is probably 30x my volume.
I cannot take my car downtown, it takes me... everywhere. I am most likely to park it along the edge of a road, giving far less road space to those who are using the roads for its intended purpose. (it's a PIPE, on street parking makes no sense at all from an engineering perspective)

The math doesn't add up to your claim of bikes causing congestion.
Right now, cars are the culprit, unless you want to go way off and blame buildings and other unmovable obstacles for causing congestion.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by cptstubing

How can something like a bike cause congestion? My bike is 1/7 my body weight and is probably 1/5 my volume. I take my bike downtown. I can pick it up and move it out of the way. I can park it *anywhere* something protrudes from the ground, within reason.

My car weighs 26x my body weight, and is probably 30x my volume.
I cannot take my car downtown, it takes me... everywhere. I am most likely to park it along the edge of a road, giving far less road space to those who are using the roads for its intended purpose. (it's a PIPE, on street parking makes no sense at all from an engineering perspective)

The math doesn't add up to your claim of bikes causing congestion.
Right now, cars are the culprit, unless you want to go way off and blame buildings and other unmovable obstacles for causing congestion.

~Can't~we~all~just~get~along!~

I like cars, I like bikes, I like transit, I like anything which can help me get from A to B faster than I can get there on my own two feet, but I like walking too!

Enough of the squabbling, we're all part of the situation and none of us are going away, so let's all be adults and be respectful to one another please. Getting tired of all the anti-bike, anti-car, anti-anything 🞵🞵🞵🞵, how about let's learn to live together instead.

[Keith P.]

So may people on this forum have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever.

Satirical comments really seem to shake some of you to the core.

[JET]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

So may people on this forum have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever.

Satirical comments really seem to shake some of you to the core.

Satire you say? Here I thought that it was sarcasm, well alright then.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by JET

Satire you say? Here I thought that it was sarcasm, well alright then.

That too.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by JET

Satire you say? Here I thought that it was sarcasm, well alright then.

There goes Keith again, blurring the lines between satire and sarcasm... It's hard to keep up here!

Seriously, though, there's lots of anti-this and anti-that floating around in a lot of posts, and it makes little sense to me to be taking sides and digging in heels, we're all part of this thing we call a city so we might as all just make the best of it.

Now back to the sarcasm... errrr... satire... whatever.

[Dmajackson]

The Windsor - Quingate connector has been constructed;


@simonrafuse on Twitter

[Dmajackson]

The Highfield Park Greenway is now completed. This trail connects the Burnside Greenway across the interchange to Highfield Park Drive and over to Leaman Drive.


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

[TheNovaScotian]

I used to live in Highfield for a couple years and worked in Burnside like many do and found it out of the way to have to walk up the hill to cross then end up without sidewalks on Burnside Dr. I know for cost reasons, it was put up there but honestly its a long ways from the closest apartment.
I always wondered why it wasn't placed between the hotel and the Penny leading into the metro transit garage which could be turned into a transit hub for Upper Burnside.

[beyeas]

I was in Helsinki at the end of June, and found it quite interesting to see how they deal with bike lans. Helsinki is a city that is really not all that different from Halifax in many ways, with older streets built around a convoluted shoreline and working harbour, icy wet winters, hilly streets, etc. The city is obviously bigger (about 600k in the core, and about 1M total urban catchment), but it feels like a city that is more on Halifax's scale. In fact, when my colleagues from Finland come to visit in Halifax, they often comment that they feel quite at home in Halifax.

There they don't really have "Amsterdam style" separated bike lanes, nor do they simply paint delineated lanes on the street-side like we do here. All through the city they just widened the sidewalks a touch, and had painted lines and markings that indicated which area was for pedestrians and which was for bikes. Everyone there simply knew the rules, and it seemed to work quite well while keeping the bikes and cars separated. The bikes didn't have to worry about cars hitting them or worry about a lane ending because of parked cars, and the cars didn't have to worry about a bike darting in front of them etc.

The first night I was out walking to dinner, and as it had been 5 years since I was last there I had forgotten to pay attention to the lanes, and ended standing in the "bike side" while waiting for the light to change. I got a look from a local on their bike that basically screamed "Stupid American", except in typical Finnish fashion they were too polite to say it.

[Dmajackson]

2015 AT Updates;

- Quingate/Windsor AT Connector - COMPLETED
- Highfield Park AT Greenway - COMPLETED
- Hollis Street Bike Lane - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Sackville AT Greenway - CONSTRUCTION IMMINENT
- University Avenue Bike Lane - DELAYED UNTIL 2016

And the most exciting of all!!!

Rainnie Drive will have a protected two-way on-street bike lane from North Park to Gottingen constructed later this year! The lane will be built on the south-side and feature a two-way cycle path, painted buffer, and some pylon posts adjacent to a one-way EB Rainnie with parking on both sides. The lane will run from North Park to a realigned Gottingen with a one-way EB unprotected lane extending down to Brunswick Street. A study is underway to see if the two-way lane can be extended to and along Brunswick Street potentially as far as Spring Garden Road.