Halifax Active Transportation

[OldDartmouthMark]

Perhaps this isn't completely applicable in a Halifax thread, but I heard about this on the radio yesterday. It reminded me of how situations like this, where government doesn't seem to completely think things through before acting, can give bike lanes a bad name in the eyes of the general public - just because they are poorly executed. Locally, I'm thinking of the one on Hollis street that doesn't seem to be designed to be effective for either cyclists or motorists and actually has a couple of spots that I think could be dangerous for cyclists due to poor layout.

Canadian Armed Forces cry foul over new bike lane near armoury in downtown Vancouver

[Keith P.]

The Hollis bike lane is a complete debacle. Cyclists are not using it, but the cycling lobby screams and yells on social media every time a courier pulls over to deliver a package. It should be eliminated and they should try a total rethink.

Today I had occasion to use the "new" Rainnie Drive for the first time since the changes. What a disaster. Again, zero cyclists to be found, but driving in a car on it was bizarre as it has been narrowed down to a single, rather narrow-feeling lane, and at the end, you have a very awkward zigzag where it connects to what used to be the east end of Rainnie Dr but is now Gottingen. It too needs a total rethink. Who is designing these things anyway?

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The Hollis bike lane is a complete debacle. Cyclists are not using it, but the cycling lobby screams and yells on social media every time a courier pulls over to deliver a package. It should be eliminated and they should try a total rethink.

Today I had occasion to use the "new" Rainnie Drive for the first time since the changes. What a disaster. Again, zero cyclists to be found, but driving in a car on it was bizarre as it has been narrowed down to a single, rather narrow-feeling lane, and at the end, you have a very awkward zigzag where it connects to what used to be the east end of Rainnie Dr but is now Gottingen. It too needs a total rethink. Who is designing these things anyway?

That's a humorous story to me, as I don't drive that route very often but recently I missed that exit off the roundabout on two different occasions, while wanting to check out the "new" Rainnie Drive. To me the exit wasn't really obvious at a glance while trying to watch for traffic in the roundabout, so I drove right by it. Next time I'll get it!

For the Hollis bike lane, I'm specifically thinking of the left turn lane (at Sackville?) where it appears that 2 straight lanes turn into one, while there is a dedicated left turn lane for cars, while the bike lane splits right down the middle. It's not a good situation for motorists or cyclists and I'm afraid that a cyclist is going to get hit by a left-turning truck that doesn't see him/her when the lanes cross over each other. It just doesn't seem very well thought-out to me, plus being on the left side of the lane isn't were motorists expect to see cyclists anyhow. I'm sure it could have been designed worse, but I'm not sure how. I'd like to hear the cyclists' honest opinion of the lane design, and not just positive gushing because they are happy to have anything - it needs to be better than that if it's going to work at all...

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The Hollis bike lane is a complete debacle. Cyclists are not using it, but the cycling lobby screams and yells on social media every time a courier pulls over to deliver a package. It should be eliminated and they should try a total rethink.

I live on Hollis and I do indeed see cyclists use it. Not many. But some. But yeah... not many. It probably should be removed, taken as a lesson what not to do (hey, you have to make mistakes to learn), and something better should be tried.

Today I had occasion to use the "new" Rainnie Drive for the first time since the changes. What a disaster. Again, zero cyclists to be found, but driving in a car on it was bizarre as it has been narrowed down to a single, rather narrow-feeling lane, and at the end, you have a very awkward zigzag where it connects to what used to be the east end of Rainnie Dr but is now Gottingen. It too needs a total rethink. Who is designing these things anyway?

I walk to work every day on Rainnie and would have to say you're very wrong on this one. It is extremely well used inbound. It also works just fine for cars every time I've driven it or watched someone drive it, and no parking was lost. I will admit, I have yet to see the outbound bike lane used; probably because there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to get onto it without dismounting your bike and crossing the street. Apparently that'll be fixed though when they upgrade the bottom end of Gottingen Street.

[Nouvellecosse]

The problem is when cities decide to put bike lanes where they're convenient to build rather than where they're convenient to use. IT would be much more useful on, say, Barrington st., but that would be more logistically challenging.

That being said, why would anyone bother using them when there's always some big monstrosity stuck right in the middle of it? If you have to either stop or swerve out into traffic, than that isn't very useful. Lets go for a few months without any such hazards and see how popular it is, and then make a decision.

[curnhalio]

One thing to consider re: the lane split at Sackville, is the construction of the Maple. Cars and bikes have to travel single file in front of the site which probably necessitated bikes having to move to the middle there. It's possible that this would be rectified when the Maple is complete.

I absolutely cannot support the idea of a bike lane on the downtown section of Barrington St.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by curnhalio

One thing to consider re: the lane split at Sackville, is the construction of the Maple. Cars and bikes have to travel single file in front of the site which probably necessitated bikes having to move to the middle there. It's possible that this would be rectified when the Maple is complete.

I absolutely cannot support the idea of a bike lane on the downtown section of Barrington St.

You don't think anyone would use it? I actually think it would have 2 or 3 times the riders as Hollis/Lr. Water.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by curnhalio

One thing to consider re: the lane split at Sackville, is the construction of the Maple. Cars and bikes have to travel single file in front of the site which probably necessitated bikes having to move to the middle there. It's possible that this would be rectified when the Maple is complete.

Maybe so. It is a bit of a mess there due to construction, so we'll see how that plays out.

[Drybrain]

I've biked the Hollis lane probably a dozen times, and yeah, it's got a lot of problems:

1. You'll almost always have a delivery vehicle on every other block, if not more frequently.

2. About half the times I've rode in it there have been cars just obliviously parked in it.

3. The Maple construction is currently taking out a whole block's worth of it.

4. It's not connected to the rest of the bike network.

Rather than retrench on the Hollis lane, we should double down. Duke Street should get a bike lane connected to Rainnie and Hollis. And the Hollis lane should be protected by bollards and some better solution for delivery vehicles should be worked out. We are not the only city to have bike lanes on busy downtown streets that need to accommodate business deliveries and drop-offs, but the Hollis lane is by far the most plagued by parking I've ever seen.

[IanWatson]

As an aside, we will hopefully soon know, in numbers, how successful different bike lanes are. I've noticed that little black traffic camera boxes have popped along many of the bike lanes in the past couple of days.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Duke Street should get a bike lane connected to Rainnie and Hollis.

Oh, god, PLEASE do this. It will be the coup de grâce for all bike lanes in Halifax. The grade means that nobody will ever use it going uphill, and going downhill will be an absolute death-defying act. It would be the final straw for people who see these as utter wastes of taxpayer money that is mere pandering to an entitled lobby group.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Oh, god, PLEASE do this. It will be the coup de grâce for all bike lanes in Halifax. The grade means that nobody will ever use it going uphill, and going downhill will be an absolute death-defying act. It would be the final straw for people who see these as utter wastes of taxpayer money that is mere pandering to an entitled lobby group.

I go up and downhill all the time on it. A bit of a struggle uphill; downhill is perfectly safe as long as you have, like, brakes.

[curnhalio]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

You don't think anyone would use it? I actually think it would have 2 or 3 times the riders as Hollis/Lr. Water.

It's not that I don't think it would be used, it's more that there just simply is no room to add one. You have a thousand buses going down it, seemingly another thousand trucks parked at different points through the day. If you think Hollis is bad for trucks parking in the lane, siting it on Barrington would ramp that up exponentially.

They do want to construct an East-West bike lane along Morris in the not too distant future. I don't know where a comparable lane could possibly be built up towards the Duke area, unless you integrate one with the Cogswell re-build.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I go up and downhill all the time on it. A bit of a struggle uphill; downhill is perfectly safe as long as you have, like, brakes.

The hills in downtown Halifax really aren't that big of a deal compared to what cyclists have proven they are willing to contend with in other cities.

Mainland Halifax is another matter but the peninsula as a whole is actually pretty good.

[Dmajackson]

I originally had this in my tumblr queue but I was so excited I just couldn't wait to share it!


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I originally had this in my tumblr queue but I was so excited I just couldn't wait to share it!


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

Yeah I was biking my son home from daycare yesterday, looked up university and saw that, and decided to try it out as a new route home!

[IanWatson]

I rode it yesterday. The west-bound lane was partially blocked by a crane doing construction on the Weldon Law building, and the east-bound lane is absolutely full of bumpy asphalt patches (you can see some of them in DM's photos), so it wasn't a perfect experience. Still, super happy to see this finally happen! Thank you to everyone who worked hard to get this bike lane built.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by curnhalio

It's not that I don't think it would be used, it's more that there just simply is no room to add one. You have a thousand buses going down it, seemingly another thousand trucks parked at different points through the day. If you think Hollis is bad for trucks parking in the lane, siting it on Barrington would ramp that up exponentially.

They do want to construct an East-West bike lane along Morris in the not too distant future. I don't know where a comparable lane could possibly be built up towards the Duke area, unless you integrate one with the Cogswell re-build.

It would certainly have to be barrier separated. But then again, so would Hollis (if it's intended to be functional).

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

I originally had this in my tumblr queue but I was so excited I just couldn't wait to share it!


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

Drove past yesterday - parked cars and trucks, in between the barriers, on every block.

[Hali87]

Opinion: Bike lane pilot project doesn't work

Thoughts?