[someone123]

Clayton Park is just about built out, which means this area of Dartmouth is the closest spot for new suburban development. Some parts of Mainland Halifax are also close but don't have the transportation connections and therefore are not growing quickly.

Part of the plan with this is to have more employment growth on the peninsula. To have this happen, bringing in more cars is pretty much a necessity. Transit should be promoted but the reality is that areas that don't accommodate cars aren't going to grow very much and growth will shift to places that do, whether they are inside or outside of HRM's boundaries.

Growth out in places like Tantallon creates a lot of pressure for local retail and office construction. The bridge will effectively bring parts of the city closer to the downtown so commuting becomes more attractive. Overall, having a new suburb of 30,000-40,000 people 10 km (or whatever) closer to the downtown is a major win.

The $1B wouldn't come directly from various levels of government. Most of the cost would come from tolls and the debt would be paid down over a long term as with the other two bridges. I wouldn't be surprised if they were both comparable in terms of cost when adjusted for inflation and (to some degree) the size of the city.