[Halifax Hillbilly]

Originally Posted by someone123

Right now Halifax is 90% built around the car. A reasonable goal in the medium term might be to get that down to 75%. Suddenly stopping transportation projects designed mostly to move cars around in a growing city where the vast majority rely on cars is not reasonable.

This bridge is a 6-lane proposal. Currently there are seven lanes crossing the harbour. That would be an 85% increase in capacity across the harbour, in one shot. I don't believe increasing the capacity mostly for ONE mode of transportation over the harbour by 85% is anything near a balanced approach, nor is it reasonable. Building projects like this simply reinforces the auto-dependent development form we already have.

There are no viable proposals on the table for transit that will move people around the city in a comparable way and the built density in 90% of the city pretty much totally precludes that. Maybe you could get people from Clayton Park to work downtown but what if they want to get to the rest of the city?

No there aren't any transit plans that can move as many people as cars anytime soon. However there are some projects on the table that provide attractive alternatives that I'm sure people would definetly use. The Link bus is really a fairly modest service but has higher ridership than expected and has taken cars off the road. Here's some ideas that we could implement at a fraction of the cost of a bridge:

Bedford Fast Ferry - $30 million
Eastern passage fast ferry + free park and ride
Shannon Park fast ferry + free park and ride
Increased ferry service to Woodside
Link bus on Main Street Dartmouth

There will always be people who need to drive or choose to but when we're designing a transportation system we don't have to make the assumption that everyone wants to or should drive. At the very least we should try transit projects that can alleviate the need for a third bridge before deciding a bridge is an absolute necessity.

Putting the brakes on all transportation projects designed primarily around cars might be nice theoretically but it would be horrible for the city's economy. Halifax's economy is doing fine at the moment but Halifax and NS in general are historically both places that are very easy to scare business away from. I think the city's already paying an very high penalty for all of its mismanagement and hostility towards change.

I take as my starting point that we have OVER invested in roads at the expense of almost every other mode in previous decades. Our transportation mentality has become simply increase mobility - move as many people as possible (usually in cars) as fast as possible. There is almost no emphasis what so ever on creating places where people can make shorter, more convenient trips. Lip service is given to transit. Our entire system is designed around commutes at peak times, ignoring that the vast majority of our road capacity is uneeded at other times.

If we are indeed worried about the economic consequences of congestion and poor accessibility we have means other than road-construction to battle congestion. If we are discussing massive investment in road infrastructure (and I have no word other than massive to describe a six lane, $1.1 billion bridge) than I think everyone should be clear on the dramatic consequences that this would have on the settlement pattern and travel patterns in this city. If you believe economic growth and increased mobility can justify those consequences than I will agree to disagree. However I can't accept the argument that this bridge is a necessity, or that choosing this bridge would be anything less than accepting and reinforcing our current automobile dominated transportation system.