The population of Halifax is about 400,000. For various reasons it has been slow to expand, even though it has many things that would make sense for it to grow. Some of those are: It is a major port, the availability of low cost land, major freight line connecting the rest of Canada and North America, a rich history, and close to leisure things.
Here are my thoughts on what would be needed to bring the population to 1 million people.
1) Build the 3rd crossing. There is still far too much traffic trying to get out of the downtown core over the bridges, or out to the west. Having that 3rd crossing would alleviate that traffic and have more people considering living in the city. This should be built as a tunnel to prevent only certain ships from coming into the terminals. The 2 Mac bridges already have some limitations to them, preventing growth in the Basin. A divided highway should then be built from it to the 102. This will allow people to easily get around.
2) Build a freeway to connect the Mackay Bridge with the 102. The fact that a highway dumps into city streets that if you need to keep going to the 102, it gets to be a challenge really makes travel in the city difficult.
3) Turn 1 lane on the MacDonald bridge into a gantlet lane for buses. There would be some challenges with timing the signals for the buses, but if the centre lane was bus only, and the buses queued in a different lane than the rest of traffic, and they had the priority, then they could move across the bridge faster than those stuck in the traffic.
4) Build an LRT/Subway line connecting Scotia Square and Alderney Landing. Build the bridge for it paralleling the MacDonald Bridge.This would have seamless travel across the harbour.
5) Build a crossing across the Northwest Arm. This would allow traffic to better flow to the Percells Cove area. Have it connected on the east side to the aforementioned connection to the 102. Have the west side connected to Dunbrack St.
6) Finish building 107 to highways 101 & 102. This is a missing link in the highways system. In fact, the interchange with 101, 102, 107, Sackville Dr and Bedford Highway would be completely redesigned such that the 101 and 107 would be a simple continuation, and Sackville Dr and Bedford Highway would also be a simple continuation. This would clear out the mess of ramps there, and could allow better ramps.
7) Build Highway 113. This again will help alleviate traffic and it seems that it is also a missing link.
Doing these things would begin the process to make Halifax feel more like a modern city and will spur growth in certain areas. If done right, this may also help spur the growth in the core. Instead of tearing down old buildings in the core, they should instead be renovated into condos or apartments. This would make them attractive places to live, and have a better neighbourhood vibe.
Basically, here are my thoughts.
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