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  #61  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2013, 11:56 AM
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This is what we will need on the Bedford highway, If we don't get some rail-based transit.


http://metronewsca.files.wordpress.c...ed-need-jh.jpg
http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/706...ng-incidents/#
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  #62  
Old Posted Jun 14, 2013, 10:42 PM
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Looks perfect! Let's build it!
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  #63  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2013, 4:32 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
If we removed the unnecessary obstacles to flow that are created by poor design, neglect or simple intransigence - I refer to the Fairview Overpass, the uncontrolled left turns and lack of bus pullover on Joe Howe, the lack of adequate capacity on major routes ,the dumping of heavy traffic onto surface streets; the list is endless - then you would be correct. Tell it to the endless line of immobilized traffic I saw at rush hour today on the south end of Oxford St waiting to turn left onto Jubillee. They may still be there. Why they were there is a bit of a mystery - I assume downtown shortcutters.
Poor route choice? Accident? Isn't there a left-turn arrow at that intersection?

There are certainly many things that can be done to improve traffic flow (i.e. Fairview Overpass), but improving traffic flow isn't sexy these days. It's far more popular to complain about the evil, environment-destroying car drivers than to improve things for them (and as a result - everybody who commutes). Let's make it so difficult and costly to drive that people will be forced into less-pleasant modes of transport.

But the basic problem for traffic is the peninsula and its ancient (by Canadian standards) street layout. There are some snags that could be ironed out but it can never be completely "fixed" to make traffic flow smoothly, especially under ever-increasing traffic volumes. Don't know how many times I have to say it, but "great" transit (i.e. very convenient, efficient, comfortable, well laid-out, etc.) needs to be combined with some obvious traffic improvements to make the situation better than it is. Lure car drivers into taking transit by making it more attractive rather than berating them for choosing to drive. Alienating drivers by turning them into villains does nothing more than slow down progress by creating opposing sides in the argument.

Now, Keith, I'm sure you must have come back home after driving in Toronto and admitted to yourself that Halifax traffic is not so bad after all...
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  #64  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2013, 4:33 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
Looks perfect! Let's build it!
Sounds good.

And, they could eliminate stunting charges by raising the speed limit to 150!
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  #65  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2013, 5:19 PM
halifaxboyns halifaxboyns is offline
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It couldn't be built because the Municipal Government Act (whoops - the Halifax Charter) does not allow you to create parcels which do not have any access. So a parcel, must by legislation, have some form of access.

Plus to widen the highway (which I think is a bad idea anyway because it will fill up with cars again anyway) you'd need to expropriate land - which is going to create an awful lot of non-conforming buildings. If you wanted to expand it to that wide, you would be better off expropriating the land completely (not portions of parcels), demo the buildings and then create access easements across the new parcels at regular intersection points.

So for example: If you expropriated all the land where Feed Nova Scotia is (the senior's facility) and a few others - you could then remove the buildings, widen the road and then create a true four way intersection at Flamingo that would provide access to the new re-configured parcels. Then, you'd register on the land title an access easement over each parcel so that while the parcel may appear to not have access, it does through the others. If that makes sense...
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  #66  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2013, 6:00 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by halifaxboyns View Post
It couldn't be built because the Municipal Government Act (whoops - the Halifax Charter) does not allow you to create parcels which do not have any access. So a parcel, must by legislation, have some form of access.

Plus to widen the highway (which I think is a bad idea anyway because it will fill up with cars again anyway) you'd need to expropriate land - which is going to create an awful lot of non-conforming buildings. If you wanted to expand it to that wide, you would be better off expropriating the land completely (not portions of parcels), demo the buildings and then create access easements across the new parcels at regular intersection points.

So for example: If you expropriated all the land where Feed Nova Scotia is (the senior's facility) and a few others - you could then remove the buildings, widen the road and then create a true four way intersection at Flamingo that would provide access to the new re-configured parcels. Then, you'd register on the land title an access easement over each parcel so that while the parcel may appear to not have access, it does through the others. If that makes sense...
Yeah, that absolutely makes sense. It wouldn't be feasible given the lay of the land in that area, plus I agree it wouldn't really solve the problem.

I really think the actual solution lies somewhere between the extremes of adding 5 lanes or restricting cars to force transit usage. To sound like a broken record: efficient, convenient transit + re-engineering some obvious traffic snag areas = much better commuting for all.
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  #67  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2013, 8:19 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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BTW, here's a slightly humourous comparison of commuting methods in NYC, using google maps as a guide to walking, taking transit or driving.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...ss-nyc-feature

Of course the car won (it's a car magazine, after all) but was also the most expensive, not surprisingly. However it is still an interesting look into the various modes of transportation and how to navigate in a big city.

Edit: An interesting take in the comments below the article...

Quote:
If you want to really enjoy running in the city, run the New York City Marathon wearing your name on your chest. You'll get to visit all five boroughs with the full support of thousands of spectators lining the course who will call out your name and encouragement the whole way. You'll never experience anything like it anywhere else and you'll get into the best shape of your life doing it. :-)

I live in, and own a car in Manhattan and the car sits in a garage all week. I use public transportation, cabs or a bike depending on distance, weather and wardrobe needs. Only use the car when leaving the city because inner city car use is stupid expensive due to the cost of garaging if not your monthly garage and/or the inconvenience of trying to find available garage or street parking. If you don't have a chauffeur, the car is a sketchy choice. You had the fastest time in the car but if your journey had involved rush hour traffic, or a fender bender back up, it would have been a different story.

The high percentage choice is almost always the subways. Yes, at rush hour you can be packed like a sardine but even then they're fast, reliable and by far the fastest way to cover long distances in the city. When the streets are covered with snow, rain or jammed with cars, the subway gets you closer, faster. Not as cozy or comfy as a Bentley but then, what is?

Enjoyed the journey and your reporting. :-)

Last edited by OldDartmouthMark; Jun 18, 2013 at 8:33 PM. Reason: add information
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  #68  
Old Posted Jun 22, 2013, 1:05 PM
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W.Sobchak W.Sobchak is offline
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I was looking for coal and found gold. This is a tramway map of Halifax/Dartmouth 1946.

http://maps.library.utoronto.ca/data...H3_10_1945.jpg
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  #69  
Old Posted Aug 27, 2013, 7:01 PM
rkannegi rkannegi is offline
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Robie Foods Site

Any word on what's going on with the lot occupied by Robie Foods on the southeast corner of Robie and Young? It was just demolished earlier today.

https://maps.google.ca/?ll=44.659707...110.79,,0,8.27

Is this building being expropriated for future widening of Young Street between Robie and Agricola or is this site merely being subject to real estate redevelopment? Now, I know that widening of Young Street through the Robie-Agricola block would run right through the newly-built Mother's Pizza over at the corner of Young & Agricola.

Cheers,

Richard Kannegiesser
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  #70  
Old Posted Aug 28, 2013, 1:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rkannegi View Post
Any word on what's going on with the lot occupied by Robie Foods on the southeast corner of Robie and Young? It was just demolished earlier today.

https://maps.google.ca/?ll=44.659707...110.79,,0,8.27

Is this building being expropriated for future widening of Young Street between Robie and Agricola or is this site merely being subject to real estate redevelopment?
I understand a new building for a payday loan outfit is to be constructed on the site.

Quote:
Now, I know that widening of Young Street through the Robie-Agricola block would run right through the newly-built Mother's Pizza over at the corner of Young & Agricola.
That building should never have been permitted to be so close to the curb. Unfortunately this one probably will be also. That short stretch of Young is a real bottleneck but unfortunately HRM has an aversion to widening streets. They have missed a very real opportunity here. Even easing the corners would go a long way there.
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  #71  
Old Posted Oct 4, 2013, 3:45 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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I read an article in allnovascotia.com yesterday that grabbed my attention.

(source: allnovascotia.com, October 3rd edition) - an excerpt is hand typed below.
Quote:
Why Waye Mason Won't Vote for RP+5

By Amy Pugsley Fraser

A regional Councillor is slamming the brakes on Halifax City Hall's five-year review of city's regional plan, citing aspects of it as a "black eye" for the municipality.

Counc. Waye Mason said Wednesday that he can't vote for the RP+5 plan because it includes a list of street widenings, Bayers Road and Herring Cove Road among them, that date back to 2006.

The seven-year list is duplicated in its entirety in the new plan, he says, despite input from the public over the course of last year about the importance of walkable communities, active transportation and transit.
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Mason wants to see the entire Road Network Functional Plan taken out for public consultation.

"The public should be involved in why we're committing to support all these other modes of transportation and mobility, but the only thing we're willing to make a list of in the regional plan is roads aimed primarily at single occupancy vehicles."

Mason's motion to seek public input was approved by the volunteer-led Community Design Review Committee at the close of a two-hour meeting Wednesday.
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This is a complex issue so I won't give my uniformed views on it. However, in order to understand Waye Mason's viewpoint somewhat better I referred to his halifax.ca website and found this interesting report on the Bayne Street Land Use Study, which includes information on twinning the MacKay bridge and ideas for re-routing truck traffic from the Southend terminal - http://wayemason.ca/wp-content/uploa...eet_Report.pdf. It is interesting that the report is from November 2003!

Last edited by fenwick16; Oct 4, 2013 at 4:49 AM.
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  #72  
Old Posted Dec 5, 2013, 10:29 AM
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This is something I found out of the blue;

Sussex Drive Extension

Basically from what I understand the Stillwater Lake community off of Hammonds Plains Road has sprawled to the point that a direct connection between Sussex Drive and St. Margaret's Bay Road is warranted. This will be done via a "subdivision road", to be built by developers, connecting Sussex Drive (Stillwater Lake) and Elder Drive (Timberlea). While this road will not be very significant by itself it does have a few unique characteristics that make it different from near by roads; 1) it is the first direct connection between Stillwater Lake & Timberlea, 2) while rural commuter in nature it is adjacent to MetroX Sheldrake Lake, and 3) it will eventually have a half-interchange with Highway 113.

Personally I'm mixed on projects like this but I think at the end of the day this project is worth the minimal cost. It will encourage more sprawl in the area but on the other hand it has the potential to relieve traffic on Hammonds Plains Road, take congestion off of Exit 5 and put it onto Exit 4, it clearly defines and leaves space for Highway 113, and it provides more customers for the Park N' Ride at Sheldrake Lake.

On Google Maps, Elder Drive can be seen under construction. Where that roads ends in the picture is where the west-bound off-ramp from Highway 113 will eventually be located.
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  #73  
Old Posted Mar 22, 2014, 7:39 PM
rkannegi rkannegi is offline
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I put in a couple lane reconfiguration suggestions to HRM as interim options for the Windsor/Cunard/Chebucto (WCC) intersection until HRM can realign the WCC intersection into a 4-way skewed intersection. The existing intersection design forces left turns and through traffic from Windsor Street to re-merge after filing separately on entry to the intersection due to insufficient space for separate filing of left turns and through traffic on the far-side half of the existing WCC intersection along each of both directions of Windsor Street.

Option 1 (Replace left-turn-only lanes on Windsor Street with shared left/through lane with the adjacent existing shared through/right lanes replaced by right-turn-only lanes):



Option 2 (Replace existing left-turn-only lanes on Windsor Street with yellow-line hash zones, while existing Windsor Street right turn lanes become all-direction lanes (shared left turn/through/right turn lane), while a series of guidelines are drawn inside of the intersection to tell left turns to only stage left for a left turn in the far-side half of the intersection in their respective direction):


image ru

Cheers,

Richard Kannegiesser
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  #74  
Old Posted Apr 11, 2014, 4:52 PM
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Wright Avenue in Burnside is getting some more upgrades this year. As part of a water main renewal project a sidewalk will be constructed on the south side between MacDonald Avenue and Windmill Road. Additionally a third turning lane will be installed between Windmill and Haliburton.

http://www.halifax.ca/municipalclerk...0415ca1117.pdf
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  #75  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 12:56 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by portapetey View Post
Then your intersection becomes Brunswick & Duke, or Brunswick & Rainnie - instead of Brunswick & Gottingen & Duke which seems to imply that's it's a 5-way when it's not. (And get rid of the pointless traffic island splitting the right-turn lane onto Brunswick, while you're at it.)
The right-turn channel will likely be removed in 2016/2017 to make way for the extended on-street separated bike lane.

Quote:
There is a similarly ridiculous series of name changes in other parts of the city too, of course. NW Arm Drive/Dunbrack/Kearney Lake/Larry Uteck/Kearney Lake again/whatever, with that little wiggly tail of Kearney Lake going down to the Bedford Highway, more or less perpendicular from the rest of Kearney Lake, for example - what is this?
Kearney Lake ends definitively at Larry Uteck. The southern portion does defy the civic addressing policies though so between Dunbrack and Bedford Highway needs to be renamed.

There are other problematic streets;

- Woodlawn Road turns at a stoplight where Mt Edward is the continuous leg.
- Ochterlonely/Prince Albert/Braemar/Waverley are all the same street.
- Mic Mac Blvd turns at a stoplight.
- Albro Lake/Sea King are the same street.
- Young Street no longer connects to itself.
- It's a straight drive from Hydrostone Market to Costco via Young/Bayers/Dutch Village/Titus/Lacewood/Chain Lake.
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  #76  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 1:08 AM
portapetey portapetey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmajackson View Post
The right-turn channel will likely be removed in 2016/2017 to make way for the extended on-street separated bike lane.



Kearney Lake ends definitively at Larry Uteck. The southern portion does defy the civic addressing policies though so between Dunbrack and Bedford Highway needs to be renamed.

There are other problematic streets;

- Woodlawn Road turns at a stoplight where Mt Edward is the continuous leg.
- Ochterlonely/Prince Albert/Braemar/Waverley are all the same street.
- Mic Mac Blvd turns at a stoplight.
- Albro Lake/Sea King are the same street.
- Young Street no longer connects to itself.
- It's a straight drive from Hydrostone Market to Costco via Young/Bayers/Dutch Village/Titus/Lacewood/Chain Lake.

Other good suggestions.

I don't know how "definitively" Kearney Lake really ends though. I realize there's a 70 degree swing and then a t-junction to end it. But it feels artificially forced, because if not for that awkwardly inserted 70 degree swing, you'd continue in a straight-ish line right along Kearney Lake oops I mean Larry Uteck. Didn't it used to be called Kearney Lake all the way? I'd call Larry Uteck a shorter street that connects Kearney Lake Rd. and the Bedford Highway.
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  #77  
Old Posted Nov 27, 2015, 5:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmajackson View Post
The right-turn channel will likely be removed in 2016/2017 to make way for the extended on-street separated bike lane.



Kearney Lake ends definitively at Larry Uteck. The southern portion does defy the civic addressing policies though so between Dunbrack and Bedford Highway needs to be renamed.

There are other problematic streets;

- Woodlawn Road turns at a stoplight where Mt Edward is the continuous leg.
- Ochterlonely/Prince Albert/Braemar/Waverley are all the same street.
- Mic Mac Blvd turns at a stoplight.
- Albro Lake/Sea King are the same street.
- Young Street no longer connects to itself.
- It's a straight drive from Hydrostone Market to Costco via Young/Bayers/Dutch Village/Titus/Lacewood/Chain Lake.
<Edit>
Hmm Posted this, then saw 2 others cited this as an example. I will point out that they all missed the one block of Alma Cres. which is in the path. its so short, you need to be zoomed in really far on the map to see it, but its there.
</EDIT>
Dutch village has 2 intersections with Joseph Howe. Also in a Continuous trip, with out turning, you can drive on Dutch Village, Alma Cres, Titus, and Finally Lacewood.



these should all become Lacewood with Dutch Village running between Joe Howe, and the new lacewood, Alma loosing the Hook, and Titus ceasing to exist.
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  #78  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2015, 5:34 PM
macgregor macgregor is offline
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South Park St / Young Ave
Spring Garden Rd / Coburg Rd
University / Morris
North Park / Agricola
!!!!
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  #79  
Old Posted Nov 28, 2015, 8:23 PM
portapetey portapetey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macgregor View Post
South Park St / Young Ave
Spring Garden Rd / Coburg Rd
University / Morris
North Park / Agricola
!!!!
I suggested a few of those too over on the other thread:

"While we're at it, can we make Quinpool / Cogswell just one street?

Bell / South Park / Young Ave.?

Maybe Coburg / Spring Garden (though they're not quite lined up...)?

Robie / Massachusetts (might be tricky, there's the long residential part of Robie that would have to be renamed...)?

Lady Hammond / Duffus?

Maybe Chebucto / North (again, trickier...)?

Dutch Village / Titus / Lacewood?

The aforementioned Gottingen / Novalea?

Lordy, our street names are messy."
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  #80  
Old Posted Nov 29, 2015, 1:07 PM
macgregor macgregor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by portapetey View Post
I suggested a few of those too over on the other thread:

"While we're at it, can we make Quinpool / Cogswell just one street?

Bell / South Park / Young Ave.?

Maybe Coburg / Spring Garden (though they're not quite lined up...)?

Robie / Massachusetts (might be tricky, there's the long residential part of Robie that would have to be renamed...)?

Lady Hammond / Duffus?

Maybe Chebucto / North (again, trickier...)?

Dutch Village / Titus / Lacewood?

The aforementioned Gottingen / Novalea?

Lordy, our street names are messy."
I was really just stirring the pot. I'm ok with the ones I mentioned.
The Massachusetts named part is pretty new. The city wanted to get away from having a Y shaped Robie St. (makes sense).
Just goes to show that the City is inconsistent in it's naming conventions.
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