Paving the Railway Cut

[Keith P.]

The province issued this today:

Proposals Sought for Feasibility Study on Integrated Transportation Corridor
Transportation and Infrastructure RenewalOctober 23, 2008 11:35 AM

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A request for proposals is being issued to determine the feasibility of an integrated transportation corridor in Halifax. The corridor would reduce downtown truck traffic and support development of Canada's Atlantic Gateway.

"Making the gateway more competitive, moving trucks off busy downtown streets and expanding public transit options in HRM are the keys to this proposal," said Angus MacIsaac, Minister responsible for the Gateway Initiative. "We want to have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information to help us make the right decision as we aggressively pursue the opportunities presented by the Atlantic Gateway Initiative."

Areas to be addressed in the feasibility study include:
-- the environmental benefits and impacts of diverting traffic from downtown streets to an existing transportation corridor
-- the overall cost of the proposed project, including projected economic impact assessment
-- options to enhance public transit options through use of the corridor
-- possible greenway features, including trails for cyclists and pedestrians.

"From those involved in the fishing industry, to Christmas tree growers, to pulp and paper companies, manufacturing and food production, businesses in this province are increasingly reliant on this transportation network to get their goods to market," said Wes Armour, president and CEO of Armour Transportation Systems. "By strengthening the position of the gateway, we strengthen the market position of our whole province and region."

Businesses and people across the province, region, and country stand to benefit significantly when the Atlantic Gateway grows.

"We want to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the competitiveness of our ports and gateway infrastructure, and we believe this project will make a significant contribution to that approach," said Mr. MacIsaac.

The deadline for submissions for the request for proposals is Nov. 14. The study is expected to be complete in early 2009. The request for proposals will be available online on Friday, Oct. 24 at www.nscorridor.ca .

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News reports indicate that it is not going to look into more innovative options like relocating Halterm out of the south end, dropping the rail lines and placing
a roadway on top, etc. Seems like very short term thinking.

[someone123]

What is the point of relocating Halterm? The truck traffic is the only really big negative impact on the downtown and South End area.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by someone123

What is the point of relocating Halterm? The truck traffic is the only really big negative impact on the downtown and South End area.

So, if it wasn't there, you'd just leave all that land as an empty lot? Think of the possibilities, man...

[worldlyhaligonian]

I would like to see the gap bridged everywhere, leaving existing tunnel below for a future metro.

[someone123]

The container terminal itself would probably cost a large amount of money to rebuild elsewhere. There was some talk of a new Richmond terminal but given the fact that the current port could handle 2 million TEUs while traffic is stalled around 500,000, this doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon.

Something else that I think it underappreciated is that having the terminal where it is contributes to the atmosphere of the city. I like that Halifax still has a real, urban working port. The economic diversity of the peninsula (downtown offices, universities and hospitals, port, military, industries like the breweries) is a huge part of what makes it interesting.

[spaustin]

The study is about using the railcut to move trucks. I don't see anything about relocating Halterm (although I think moving the cargo portion, but leaving the cruise ships would be worth exploring). After all the talk of doing something here the province is going to commission a study. What a waste. HRM has already studied this twice. What more do we need to know?

[MonctonRad]

The railway cut through the south end is not that wide (at least where it parallels the North West Arm). I doubt that you could place any more than a three lane road down there. This roadway would carry very busy truck traffic right through the middle of the priciest residential areas of the city. I can imagine just how happy the deep south ender's would be over that!

If you pave the cut, I presume this means eliminating rail access to Halterm. How do you operate a container port without rail access!

The Halifax container facilities are currently operating severely undercapacity at present. To me, the best solution would be to close Halterm and move all container traffic to Fairview Cove. This would free up oodles of prime shorefront property in the south end for development. Meanwhile, you could keep the rail lines in the existing railway cut and convert them for commuter rail traffic to downtown.

This solution would be practical, cheap and potentially quite lucrative to the city's property tax base.

If at some future time container traffic to the port were to increase again, a second terminal elsewhere in metro could be constructed.

[Jonovision]

I'm pretty sure they want to maintain the rail line through there, but they could easily pave it. Thus allowing both rail and truck traffic to use that part of the cut. I think it is a good idea. I can't imagine the downtown without all those trucks. It would be so nice!

I also like the port where it is. We are after all a port city and taking away Halterm would take a lot away from that fact. If we sell off all industrial waterfront land for commercial and residential uses, what kind of city would we be? We would be wasting our best asset to attract business here. Not too mention that much land being freed up at one time.....it wouldn't work. We would end up with a vacant site for decades. Look at what happened when irving moved out of Dartmouth? It's taken a decade for Kings Wharf to come along and that site is like maybe 3% of the size of Halterm.

[Dmajackson]

I think this article is a little bit more descriptive. And it includes the typical comment from Sue Uteck:

N.S. seeks proposals on city truck route

By JEFFREY SIMPSON Staff Reporter
Fri. Oct 24 - 4:46 AM
The province wants to take another look at adding a trucking route to the rail corridor in peninsular Halifax, Economic Development Minister Angus MacIsaac said Thursday.

Nova Scotia is calling for proposals from firms interested in studying how worthwhile it would be to build a road alongside the 6.8-kilometre stretch of CN rail tracks that snake through the city from the Halterm container port.

"We want to have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information to help us make the right decisions," Mr. MacIsaac said.

Mr. MacIsaac said adding that the road would hopefully improve the transportation of goods to and from the port and make Halifax more competitive for container ship business. It could also reduce heavy truck traffic in downtown Halifax and provide opportunities for public transportation and recreation.

"We want to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to the competitiveness of our ports," Mr. MacIsaac said.

Mr. MacIsaac said the province is confident Ottawa will contribute funding for the project, although there’s no such promise yet.

Transport Canada, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the four provinces agreed last October in Halifax to spend two years hashing out a number of issues for developing an Atlantic Gateway, including potential effects on the region’s transportation system and partnerships with the private sector.

The federal government has set aside $2.1 billion over seven years for gateways and corridor projects.

"Our companies rely on this transportation network to get their goods to market," Mr. MacIsaac said.

"We know that by strengthening the position of the gateway our whole province and region stand to benefit in this competitive and evolving marketplace."

But business at the container terminal has dropped significantly this year.

"We need to ensure that the port of Halifax is very efficient," Mr. MacIsaac said. "We need to do everything we can to allow it to make that claim."

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter questioned whether the cost of the project, which has been estimated at about $80 million, would be the best way to bolster business at the port.

"There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing here," he said.

"Do you want the traffic first or do you want the infrastructure first to carry that traffic?"

Coun. Sue Uteck (Northwest Arm-South End) said there have been several studies already, including one in 2007 which concluded it wasn’t very feasible.

"You’re raising the ire of a lot of the members of the public."

She said nothing will be possible unless the company is prepared to co-operate on the project because it owns the land, pointing out CN has reduced daily service from two trains to one.

"Nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room, which is CN," she said.

"That has to be addressed before any study."

The deadline for submissions is Nov. 14 and the feasibility study itself is expected to be completed in January.

The study is expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars and examine several factors, including the project’s total cost, possible economic benefits and environmental impacts.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Imagine a nice Bombardier LRT metro that would go from downtown to Bedford. Lol, CN is in the driver's seat for any planned use of the land.

[someone123]

The rail cut sort of made sense for commuter rail done on the cheap ($15-30M, basically just buy some used diesel trains and build minimalist stations), but for a real LRT system it's a very poor route.

[hfx_chris]

I still support the idea of not having any trucks enter downtown at all; build an intermodal terminal somewhere off-peninsula, maybe in the Fall River area, near the 102. When the container ships are unloaded, the containers are all put straight onto rail cars and brought out to the intermodal terminal where they are transferred to trucks to be trucked off, while the rest are transferred to another train and taken to places beyond.

[Dmajackson]

Personally I would love it if they infilled some of the railcut (make it into a tunnel) and put a trail system in its place above ground but since that probably won't happen the truckway might be nice IF it removes the trucks off of downtown streets.

Halifax rail cut should be paved, MacKay says
Project benefits would outweigh residents’ concerns, minister says
By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Thu. Nov 6 - 5:44 AM
Peter MacKay supports paving Halifax’s south-end rail cut for truck traffic, even if it comes at a price for homeowners in the area.

"Well, you know, progress: It comes at a cost," the Central Nova MP told The Chronicle Herald in a recent interview at his Hollis Street office.

Mr. MacKay, in charge of the newly created Atlantic Gateway portfolio, said people who live along the cut have to look at the overall good of the project.

"One of the things I am very sensitive to and cautious about, in everything I say and do around Gateway, is that this is a regional project," he said.

"It’s not Halifax Gateway or Melford or Charlottetown or St. John’s. It’s the Atlantic Gateway and we have to market it that way."

The Atlantic Gateway project focuses on increasing trade among the four Atlantic provinces and Europe and Asia.

It’s essential to improve infrastructure at key ports, on railway lines and on roads, and it’s time to get moving on those projects, Mr. MacKay said.

"We have to seize on the opportunity right now," he said.

Mr. MacKay said funds are urgently needed for developments such as the multimillion-dollar paving of the rail cut to give port container truck traffic a route out of town.

Premier Rodney MacDonald "has identified some of his priorities, including a corridor here in Halifax and highway spending," he said. "There’s money that’s been identified in the budget, and that’s not going to be taken away."

The Pacific Gateway has already received the "lion’s share" of gateway spending, Mr. MacKay said, "and they have their cranes in place . . . so we have to seize on the opportunity right now."

Close to 80 homeowners live along the banks of the railway line from the south-end container port to the Bicentennial Highway.

The councillor who represents the area said people are not having a knee-jerk reaction to the news that truck traffic may soon accompany the sound of trains that run below their windows.

"They’re not saying, ‘Not in my backyard.’ They’re saying, ‘Show us the business case,’ " Coun. Sue Uteck (Northwest Arm-South End) said Wednesday.

Like the constituents she represents at city hall, she wants more research into the economics of the plan.

"You can spend all that money you want to pave that rail cut, but no one wants to talk about the elephant in the room, which is the lack of production at the port of Halifax and the decreased service by CN," Ms. Uteck said.

"I’m not saying no to the possibility and of course there are always going to be unhappy people, but I don’t want to throw taxpayers’ money away without doing (the business case)."

The idea isn’t exactly environmentally friendly either, she said. "Running trucks in one area 24 hours a day is not clean and green."

The province is awaiting a study on an integrated transportation corridor, expected in early 2009. Mayor Peter Kelly said the municipality supports the research and he is eager to see the results.

"I can’t see this project going ahead if there’s not any prescribed benefit," he said. "If there are no benefits, why would we do it?"

[worldlyhaligonian]

Yeah, that is my idea and I am sure all of the south enders would prefer it.

All of the truck traffic noise would be below ground and you could have the urban trail along the grassy upper portion.

[hfx_chris]

Yeah, that's about as likely as Halifax building a subway system

I still like the idea of building an inland rail to truck terminal; take the containers from the ships, put them on trains, haul them out to the terminal (maybe somewhere along the 102, maybe near the airport), transfer them to trucks or leave some on trains, and haul them from there.

[Dmajackson]

Nothing new but just to get some more discussion going on this topic:

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Rail cut study due out soon

By OUR STAFF
Sat. Jan 3 - 5:12 AM

Aside from a lot of snow, January in Nova Scotia brings with it the first government feasibility study of 2009.

It happens to be linked to a controversial proposal to improve the transportation of goods through metro.

The CN rail cut in south-end Halifax is the subject of a $288,765 consultant’s review to determine its suitability as an integrated transportation corridor.

Part of the province’s Atlantic Gateway project, the proposed expansion of the rail cut to accommodate trucks moving cargo to and from the port of Halifax, emergency vehicles and possibly Metro Transit buses, is being studied by an independent transportation engineering firm, McCormick Rankin Corp.

The study, which will look at road safety, neighbourhood impact, greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution, is to be finished by the end of this month. It’ll also provide a cost-benefit analysis.

David Oxner, director of the province’s gateway initiative, told The Chronicle Herald recently the study will determine whether the rail corridor can handle container truck traffic and routes for transit buses, and even cyclists and pedestrians.

The purpose of the corridor is to divert container trucks heading to and from the busy Halterm terminal away from the downtown core.

Developing the CN rail cut is one of a number of projects Premier Rodney MacDonald wants included in the Atlantic Gateway program. The federal government has set aside more than $2 billion to help fund gateway projects in Canada.

The gateway moved from a loose concept to a real plan last March when Mr. MacDonald released his priority list. Items included dredging the entry channel in Sydney Harbour, expanding the rail cut in Halifax, building a new multi-tenant cargo facility at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and more development in Burnside Park in Dartmouth.

[terrynorthend]

Hmmm. The economic downturn seems to being doing more diverting container trucks heading to and from the "busy" Halterm terminal away from the downtown core than any railcut alternate route.

[Barrington south]

I live on Hollis st. so any reduction in the big rig traffic outside my front window would be nice...especially at 4:00am...I would be pretty outraged if I lived in the South End though...Also, I don't even see how the cut is wide for two lanes of traffic without talking up the track and thus hampering the the port

[someone123]

They could instead build approaches for a third crossing that would go from around the terminal to Barrington and Robie (though I guess neither street is a whole lot better than Hollis anyway).

The Bedford Highway isn't a great spot for trucks either, and isn't going to get any better in the coming decades.

[Dmajackson]

The Bedford Highway is horrible for trucks especially at Joe Howe and in Bedford itself.

I just hope that if they pave the railcut they connect it to Bayers Road at the Bi-Hi.