Halifax Active Transportation

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by JHikka

It's not a bike lane - it's a shared street. Basically means that cyclists can use that section of road and cars have to sit behind them until an opportunity arises to pass, IE don't honk at the cyclists or try to run them over like what happened here in Ottawa.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/harmer-avenue-bridge-drivers-1.4750928

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/harmer-bridge-detour-cyclists-1.4748470

With all due respect, that's the dumbest design I've ever seen. It literally sets up confrontation between cyclists and motorists - the exact opposite, I'm sure, of what they were trying to accomplish.

I can understand how both cyclists and motorists would feel in that circumstance, but I'll tell you there's no way that I as a cyclist would ride out in the middle of traffic like that - it's just not good sense.

As an aside, unless they are using some kind of 'special' paint, I suspect those green blocks would become quite slippery in the rain and could possibly cause a cyclist to fall in front of a moving vehicle in the right combination of circumstances, such as hitting the front brake a little too aggressively for example.

Honestly, is that the best they could come up with?

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

With all due respect, that's the dumbest design I've ever seen. It literally sets up confrontation between cyclists and motorists - the exact opposite, I'm sure, of what they were trying to accomplish.

I can understand how both cyclists and motorists would feel in that circumstance, but I'll tell you there's no way that I as a cyclist would ride out in the middle of traffic like that - it's just not good sense.

As an aside, unless they are using some kind of 'special' paint, I suspect those green blocks would become quite slippery in the rain and could possibly cause a cyclist to fall in front of a moving vehicle in the right combination of circumstances, such as hitting the front brake a little too aggressively for example.

Honestly, is that the best they could come up with?

It may snow later today because it is only on a subzero day in June that I have ever agreed so wholeheartedly with every single word in your post.

This idea is simply sheer lunacy. Hit the brakes before someone gets hurt.

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by alps

I'm curious what the Vernon-Seymour transition now looks like. That was always the trickiest part.

That intersection work is on hold until Capitol Suites is done with their sidewalk closures.

The plan is for a half-signalized intersection with traffic lights on Coburg and stop signs on Vernon/Seymour. New crosswalk on the west side of the intersection and bicycle detection for the signals which will assist crossings at peak hours. General traffic will be limited to right-turn only from Vernon/Seymour.

Originally Posted by atbw

I'm wondering if they're going to put in any physical implement here to actually prevent through traffic from cars. I'm not sure what that would look like, though.

There was plans for a raised island with a cyclist gap on Jubilee at Vernon but it was dropped in the final design. Not sure of the reason but I'm guessing allowing for left turns was part of the logic. I bike this street frequently and so far people are ignoring the signs so if that doesn't change Halifax will either need to enforce the signage or create a physical barrier.

The ALLAN STREET LOCAL STREET BIKEWAY is also being constructed this summer. This project includes a pedestrian bump-out at Chebucto Lane, curb repairs, new pavement and speed humps.

Work will not be completed for the traffic diversion at Allan/Harvard due to the ongoing legal action. The treatment for the Allan/Oak/Oxford intersection is also still being determined. It may become a pedestrian half-signal.


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

In exciting news construction will commence on the SOUTH PARK STREET PROTECTED BIKE LANES in a couple of weeks! This is Halifax's first major overhaul of a main street dedicated to AAA bicycle and pedestrian improvements. It will feature the new designs for protected lanes, bus stop treatments, pedestrian bump-outs and intersection markings for cyclists.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

In exciting news construction will commence on the SOUTH PARK STREET PROTECTED BIKE LANES in a couple of weeks! This is Halifax's first major overhaul of a main street dedicated to AAA bicycle and pedestrian improvements. It will feature the new designs for protected lanes, bus stop treatments, pedestrian bump-outs and intersection markings for cyclists.

You neglected to mention the near-$1 million price tag.

Having said that, S. Park St made poor use of the street width so improvements were overdue. However these improvements will largely be the typical HRM strategy of removing parking and punishing drivers.

[Keith P.]

Mason was crowing on Twitter about the South Park St work and Sue Uteck in her role as head of the SGR Business Assoc. took him to task for the nearly $300K budget overrun. He immediately made a snide remark about the present Council actually doing things instead of studying them (Ha!) and then, rather incredibly, threatened to screencap her post and send it to the SGRBDA Board, as if he held some influence with them. Bullying at its finest. How does this guy keep from getting beat up, much less elected?

I also note with interest he has weighed in on the proposed Inverness airport project in an opinion piece in the Herald. If that massively overinflated ego balloon of his ever bursts, the damage could be catastrophic.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I also note with interest he has weighed in on the proposed Inverness airport project in an opinion piece in the Herald. If that massively overinflated ego balloon of his ever bursts, the damage could be catastrophic.

I do believe he is a member of USNM (FNSM??... whatever the group representing NS municipalities is called these days), and such commentary would be within his role there.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

I do believe he is a member of USNM (FNSM??... whatever the group representing NS municipalities is called these days), and such commentary would be within his role there.

I suspect the members from Inverness county would not be on board with the view he expressed. That was pure Mason ego at work yet again.

[planarchy]

All it means is that only bikes can go straight through jubilee when traveling on vernon. Cars must turn left or right. Its meant to prevent vernon as a short cut. Cars can still travel on vernon. There is a similar sign at vernon and Quinpool, where bikes can be straight through to quingate, but cars can't.

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I'm sure that's what it means but it's not really well marked. There should additionally be something that physically narrows the entrance to the street to make it obvious that this is the case.

It would be unfair to residents to tell them they could no longer park their cars at their houses, so that 2 or 3 cyclists per day could use their street, but the photo looks like there's more traffic than I would expect to see from residents going to/from their homes.

Seems to be kind of a Mickey Mouse way to do it but I haven't been to the site, so maybe it's easier to understand when you are there.

[Keith P.]

Early reports are that the ban on straight-through driving is being widely ignored, but that may just be false narratives from the cycling activists. I cannot see residents putting up with this for long though.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by planarchy

All it means is that only bikes can go straight through jubilee when traveling on vernon. Cars must turn left or right. Its meant to prevent vernon as a short cut. Cars can still travel on vernon. There is a similar sign at vernon and Quinpool, where bikes can be straight through to quingate, but cars can't.

Thanks for the explanation. That clears up my confusion about it.

[IanWatson]

Christmas has come early for Keith!

$25 million in funding for the bicycle network in Halifax.

$12.5 million from the Feds, $8.25 million from NS, and $4.25 million from HRM.

[Keith P.]

Just more pork barrel funding from Justin trying to save Andy and Darren's seats. This isn't going to do it. The majority of folks in this town have awakened to the idiocy of HRM's bike lane lunacy and I fully expect the citizens to say enough once they see how this impacts the street network. All one needs to do is look at the unused bike lanes already built to see the folly of such an approach.

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Just more pork barrel funding from Justin trying to save Andy and Darren's seats. This isn't going to do it. The majority of folks in this town have awakened to the idiocy of HRM's bike lane lunacy and I fully expect the citizens to say enough once they see how this impacts the street network. All one needs to do is look at the unused bike lanes already built to see the folly of such an approach.

Ridiculous. I see more and more bikers all the time and with better infrastructure, it could be a whole lot more. I just came back from Montreal and they have very good bike infrastructure there and at rush hour it looks like the Netherlands with all the bikers.

[alps]

'They were saying no one would ride it': 10 years on, Burrard bike lane is N. America's busiest, officials say (CBC Vancouver)

If you build it, they will come

[Keith P.]

This isn't Vancouver with a year-round benign climate. With our undersized narrow streets, often ugly weather and hilly peninsula, Halifax will never be a cycling city. Bike infrastructure is just the current flavor of the month on the urban planner menu. In other cities that have invested heavily in cycling infrastructure, stats now show a decline in usage after the initial bump up as people discover it is a very dangerous, stressful and unpleasant way to commute year-round and abandon the idea. The cycling zealots are the only ones who stay with it long term.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

This isn't Vancouver with a year-round benign climate. With our undersized narrow streets, often ugly weather and hilly peninsula, Halifax will never be a cycling city. Bike infrastructure is just the current flavor of the month on the urban planner menu. In other cities that have invested heavily in cycling infrastructure, stats now show a decline in usage after the initial bump up as people discover it is a very dangerous, stressful and unpleasant way to commute year-round and abandon the idea. The cycling zealots are the only ones who stay with it long term.

Honestly, the peninsula is not especially hilly except for a few blocks climbing out of downtown, out of the Arm, and a few other choice spots. I bike all the time, all over the place, and hills are the least of my concerns.

I also bike a good nine months of the year, without any particular special gear. If there were separated bike lanes cleared of ice and snow, I'd bike a lot of those remaining three months as well, all except the truly frigid days, which are few and far between lately.

As far as cycling's decline, this spate of "the cycling trend is over" is based on a modest one-year decline as measured by a U.S. government survey that's highly variable every year. See here. Recent data in Canada shows increases. So.

And, finally, another map going around on Twitter is this one. It shows that cycle commuting in the inner city is already approaching 10 percent of commuters in some places--not wildly far off the levels in relatively balmy, bike-crazy Vancouver. If we implement proper, safer infrastructure, we can certainly expect those numbers to grow, and expand to encompass more of the regional centre and inner suburbs. Less air pollution, less traffic congestion, more options for people to get around. No one is going to take your car away Keith--this just provides different choices for those who wish to make them.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

And, finally, another map going around on Twitter is this one. It shows that cycle commuting in the inner city is already approaching 10 percent of commuters in some places--not wildly far off the levels in relatively balmy, bike-crazy Vancouver. If we implement proper, safer infrastructure, we can certainly expect those numbers to grow, and expand to encompass more of the regional centre and inner suburbs. Less air pollution, less traffic congestion, more options for people to get around. No one is going to take your car away Keith--this just provides different choices for those who wish to make them.

Given the source of that I would need the numbers validated to ensure it is not just more HCC propaganda.

I get that college students might want to bike from their apartments to campus and back, or to the bars downtown when they spend their student loans. But look at the big donut in the center of the peninsula - that is downtown office workers, who do not bike hardly at all, understandably, since you don't want to show up at work sweaty, stinky, frozen or wet.

It does not offer more options since the addition of bike lanes on many undersized streets makes cars no longer a viable option to use on the peninsula for many. I know I certainly have abandoned going downtown as a result because the aggravation is just not worth it. Now with the Allan and Seymour/Vernon changes more streets become unsuitable, and next up is Almon. Just this week we hear a member of Council decrying that no bike lanes are on Quinpool. Just imagine making that into a 2-lane bottleneck. Lunacy.

Given that the numbers shown in that map have allegedly been achieved with few bike lanes in the areas noted I fail to see the reason to add more that are redundant and likely to be unused. The numbers will never amount to much since the majority who are willing to put up with the dangers and inconvenience of cycling are likely already doing it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

And, finally, another map going around on Twitter is this one. It shows that cycle commuting in the inner city is already approaching 10 percent of commuters in some places--not wildly far off the levels in relatively balmy, bike-crazy Vancouver. If we implement proper, safer infrastructure, we can certainly expect those numbers to grow, and expand to encompass more of the regional centre and inner suburbs. Less air pollution, less traffic congestion, more options for people to get around. No one is going to take your car away Keith--this just provides different choices for those who wish to make them.

These modal shares also suggest that the capital expenditures on bike infrastructure are a really good investment, as long as they don't have too much of a cost in terms of making other modes more difficult.

The $25M plan is huge for bike infrastructure but to put it into perspective the Burnside connector is $200M. Taking cycling up from 3% of modal share to 6% in the metro or something similar is worth many tens of millions if not hundreds of millions.

[Keith P.]

The issue is that most people who are willing to cycle are already doing it. Additional monies spent now are not going to have a linear affect on ridership rates since you are going after a group that is much harder to convert to a much less appealing form of transportation.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Given the source of that I would need the numbers validated to ensure it is not just more HCC propaganda.

That's Statistics Canada data on commuting (it's a screenshot from a data-visualization tool mapping data by census tract).

I don't see how we can infer that this indicates that all the people who want to bike already do so--I know anecdotally a lot of people who would bike, but are nervous to do so because they feel unsafe. There's plenty of reason to think that there's a fair bit of latent demand--people close to jumping on a bike on a regular basis who would be encouraged to by more infrastructure.

Recent experience in Toronto really bears that idea out.

As for Quinpool, I don't know who you're talking about, but your nemesis Waye Mason has explicitly said Quinpool is not currently a good candidate for bike lanes. The east-west connections envisioned in the plan are Almon in the north and Morris/University in the south. Those are pretty far apart and I'd like another one in between, but Jubilee and Pepperell are pretty good or that purpose for the time being.

Quinpoo would, however, be a great street to install a contra-flow bike lane on in the future. It would probably mean removing on-street parking from one side. If in the future we can increase mode share so that parking is demand flatlines and cycling/transit demand grows, it will be more feasible. I'd agree it's a bad idea now--but not necessarily in the future. Toronto did basically the same thing with the Bloor Street bike lanes, and that's worked out fine. (But that is a different situation, with that street sitting above the region's second busiest transit line,)