Joint Regional Transportation Agency

[q12]

https://jrta.ca/


Looks like we finally have a Regional Transportation Group that includes:

Nova Scotia Department of Public Works
The Nova Scotia Department of Public Works (NSDPW) is responsible for provincial transportation infrastructure, including provincial highways, roads, and bridges. NSDPW owns and operates the 100-series highway system which is made up of several major freeways in the region (Highway 101, 102, 103, 107, 111, 118), along with several other secondary highways within the municipality.

Halifax Regional Municipality

Halifax Harbour Bridges

Halifax Port Authority

Halifax International Airport Authority

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

The map shows an area rapidly growing with approx. population of around 700,000


The above map shows the areas included in the Regional Transportation Plan. The focus is on Halifax Regional Municipality, but the plan will also include communities that are around a one-hour travel time to Halifax as they have also experienced growth.

The study area includes 14 municipalities outside of HRM:

Municipality of the County of Colchester
Municipality of the County of Kings
Municipality of the District of Chester
Municipality of the District of Lunenburg
Municipality of the District of West Hants
Municipality of East Hants
Town of Berwick
Town of Bridgewater
Town of Kentville
Town of Lunenburg
Town of Mahone Bay
Town of Stewiacke
Town of Truro
Town of Wolfville

One of the listed objectives:

Higher Order Transit
Explore new or alternative transportation options, including higher order transit concepts (i.e., bus rapid transit, ferries, rail, other future solutions) and under what conditions and timeframes they may become viable

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by q12

https://jrta.ca/


Looks like we finally have a Regional Transportation Group that includes:

Nova Scotia Department of Public Works
The Nova Scotia Department of Public Works (NSDPW) is responsible for provincial transportation infrastructure, including provincial highways, roads, and bridges. NSDPW owns and operates the 100-series highway system which is made up of several major freeways in the region (Highway 101, 102, 103, 107, 111, 118), along with several other secondary highways within the municipality.


Halifax Regional Municipality

Halifax Harbour Bridges

Halifax Port Authority

Halifax International Airport Authority

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

The map shows an area rapidly growing with approx. population of around 700,000


The above map shows the areas included in the Regional Transportation Plan. The focus is on Halifax Regional Municipality, but the plan will also include communities that are around a one-hour travel time to Halifax as they have also experienced growth.

The study area includes 14 municipalities outside of HRM:

Municipality of the County of Colchester
Municipality of the County of Kings
Municipality of the District of Chester
Municipality of the District of Lunenburg
Municipality of the District of West Hants
Municipality of East Hants
Town of Berwick
Town of Bridgewater
Town of Kentville
Town of Lunenburg
Town of Mahone Bay
Town of Stewiacke
Town of Truro
Town of Wolfville

One of the listed objectives:

Higher Order Transit
Explore new or alternative transportation options, including higher order transit concepts (i.e., bus rapid transit, ferries, rail, other future solutions) and under what conditions and timeframes they may become viable

Hopefully LRT is on their radar for the future long term.

[NorthernGreg]

If only CN was listed as one of the regional transportation group partners

[q12]

^Or Via Rail, since they provide commuter rail service in this country we live in.

Here's the closest thing to commuter rail running through Downtown Halifax about a month ago (great Youtube channel showing the CN trains in Halifax and beyond):

Note the room for double track capacity available here.

• Video Link

[Empire]

Originally Posted by q12

^Or Via Rail, since they provide commuter rail service in this country we live in.

Here's the closest thing to commuter rail running through Downtown Halifax about a month ago (great Youtube channel showing the CN trains in Halifax and beyond):

Note the room for double track capacity available here.

• Video Link

It's going about the same speed as HRM planning for commuter rail.

[ButterNutPecan]

Even an express bus to/from Kentville, Truro and Bridgewater would be huge. They mention ferry and rail but I doubt we'll see anything like that anytime soon.
Maybe these are the first steps to a provincial transit authority?

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by ButterNutPecan

Even an express bus to/from Kentville, Truro and Bridgewater would be huge. They mention ferry and rail but I doubt we'll see anything like that anytime soon.
Maybe these are the first steps to a provincial transit authority?

I agree we probably won't see rail transit anytime soon, but should start planning for it long term. Quebec City has just announced an LRT line and they around 800,000 people. Halifax has 500,000 people.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Haliguy

I agree we probably won't see rail transit anytime soon, but should start planning for it long term. Quebec City has just announced an LRT line and they around 800,000 people. Halifax has 500,000 people.

Had a beer Friday night with the Consultant the City hired to study the feasibility of Commuter Rail in the Halifax area. His main point was that CN will NEVER share the right of way and that even the thought of having too marshalls all of their considerable resources to go to the castle walls if you will.
Not going to happen especially as Saint John is now another competitor and CN feels the need to have only one partner, namely Halifax Port Corporation, to keep things moving.

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

Had a beer Friday night with the Consultant the City hired to study the feasibility of Commuter Rail in the Halifax area. His main point was that CN will NEVER share the right of way and that even the thought of having too marshalls all of their considerable resources to go to the castle walls if you will.
Not going to happen especially as Saint John is now another competitor and CN feels the need to have only one partner, namely Halifax Port Corporation, to keep things moving.

Yeah I don't anticipate they will be able to use the CN lines especially in close to the city. It will have to be a new dedicated light rail line.

[Nouvellecosse]

If the city and province agreed to rebuild the second track that was already there 20ish years ago, I can't see why CN would have that big an issue. They wouldn't even be sharing tracks in that case. It would be a similar to the O-train in that part of the route would be single track which would limit frequency. But if it was just the section thru the cut and there were sidings for passing in less constrained sections it wouldn't limit frequency all that much. Should be possible to get 10-15 minutes service no problem.

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

If the city and province agreed to rebuild the second track that was already there 20ish years ago, I can't see why CN would have that big an issue. They wouldn't even be sharing tracks in that case. It would be a similar to the O-train in that part of the route would be single track which would limit frequency. But if it was just the section thru the cut and there were sidings for passing in less constrained sections it wouldn't limit frequency all that much. Should be possible to get 10-15 minutes service no problem.

I think the limiting factor was the realignment of CN's track to the center of the Cut . CN had to do that to make room for the height of double stacked containers. The Hundred year old bridges along the line would probably have to be rebuilt and raised like Quinpool was a couple of years ago. Anything is possible with Money and a determined loud champion to guide it.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ That's kind of similar to what happened in central Hamilton where there's a two track tunnel made single track due to the height clearance.

[q12]

50 years ago in 1973 the Metropolitan area planning committee had planned most of what we needed for our growing city in 2023.

All of this: (And remember we had a form Commuter rail in 1973)

• Planning for 6 lanes on the Bi-Hi (current overpass/underpasses are constructed to 6-lane widths)
• Urban Transit Nodes
• Express Bus Routes
• Ferry from Bedford
• North West Arm(Dunbrack) bridge connector to the Peninsula

Full size

Source: Nova Scotia Archives
https://archives.novascotia.ca/maps/archives/?ID=1901

[someone123]

It's interesting how applicable that 1973 plan still is today. The proposed 4-lane route around Burnside is kind of like the 107 extension (but a better alignment than what is being built) and the Mill Cove ferry is there. The 102 expansion is needed. I still think a Northwest Arm crossing from Robie would be a good project.

They call for that development farther out around Spryfield but not much closer to the water. They have a big growth blob west of Bedford but don't fill in Clayton Park.

[Keith P.]

That’s an interesting document. MAPC had a reputation for not accomplishing much but when combined with the old Metropolitan Authority they did some things that the municipal units of the day couldn’t do individually. I like the idea of the NW Arm bridge of course. Looking at the map it strikes me that while a third harbor crossing at the end of the Circ makes total sense the length of that crossing is quite long compared to the existing bridges. But when I look at this It strikes me that a third shorter crossing somewhere in the vicinity of the end of Albro Lake Rd in Dartmouth connecting to the vicinity of Duffus St in Halifax could open up a great many possibilities especially if the Halifax end terminated well up the hill close to Novalea. One thing I don’t see here but which is badly needed is the late Erik Nielsen’s concept of a connector off the Windsor St Exchange running along the edge of the rail cut behind Superstore and Bayers Rd Shopping Center to the 102 to eliminate the congestion on Joe Howe Drive.

[q12]

A Summary of basically what the public told JRTA:

Create a Regionally Integrated Public Transit Network with Rail/LRT


Regional Transportation - Plan Stage 1 - What We Heard Report - October 2023
https://engage.jrta.ca/36589/widgets...cuments/116828

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by q12

A Summary of basically what the public told JRTA:

Create a Regionally Integrated Public Transit Network with Rail/LRT


Regional Transportation - Plan Stage 1 - What We Heard Report - October 2023
https://engage.jrta.ca/36589/widgets...cuments/116828

This is certainly what I have been advocating, and suggesting that it should be a central Nova Scotia transportation authority governing all aspects of peninsular, suburban and exurban transit, by whatever modality (bus, LRT, ferry and regional commuter rail). All modalities should be fully integrated and interconnected..........

[HarbingerDe]

Originally Posted by q12

A Summary of basically what the public told JRTA:

Create a Regionally Integrated Public Transit Network with Rail/LRT


Regional Transportation - Plan Stage 1 - What We Heard Report - October 2023
https://engage.jrta.ca/36589/widgets...cuments/116828

That actually gives me some hope. I guess the privileged NIMBY boomers don't even think about public transit enough to get involved and derail the public consultation process with counter-productive car-centric lobbying.

[someone123]

That report seems pretty fluffy but it's good to see that they are somehow active.

I think basically the question in Halifax is whether the system stagnates more or less as it is or some kind of meaningful higher-order transit backbone is added with the old bus routes becoming simplified feeder routes with transfers. Pseudo-BRT with dedicated lanes and intersections with signal priority was a reasonable starting point in the 2010's but may not perform well when the city has 600,000-700,000+ people by the time something is actually built 5-20 years into the future. My hope is that the BRT plan will happen ASAP but will immediately transition to a multibillion dollar rapid transit plan that considers a wider scope of capital investment (trains, tunnels, elevated track, etc.).

Transit in the wider region is good but tends to get disproportionate attention relative to ridership. Potential transit ridership is hugely slanted toward the urban core. One partial exception is Halifax-Truro as that's got the existing intercity passenger rail service and Truro is a large-ish town.

[josh_cat_eyes]

They should be working on building an actual subway system. Edmonton was the size Halifax is today when they opened their first line.

First line should start at the train station, go diagonally over to Barrington and then travel the length of Barrington to Cogswell. From there you’d have a line along Robbie from the rail cut at the southern end of Robbie to Cogswell and a line along Spring Garden Road/Coburg from Barrington to the rail cut.

You could then make a commuter line along the rail corridor starting at the train station with stops for connections at the end of the Robbie street line and the end of the Coburg/spring Garden line and at the HSC before heading to the suburbs.

This would be a good start. I could see there being lines along South Street, South Park Street, Brunswick & Queen, and extending the Cogswell line along Quinpool road.

Just a few thoughts.