[someone123]

The most important thing to realize is that the bridge will shape future development and redirect current traffic. Right now, people in Woodside-Eastern Passage go to the MacDonald or MacKay bridges. They would use the new bridge, freeing up room on the MacKay for people coming from Bedford and Sackville. Similarly, tens of thousands of houses will be built in Halifax in the coming decades. These could go in the empty land around Shearwater if a new bridge is built. This is a better alternative to Fall River or Hammonds Plains for a variety of reasons.

The effect would be similar to when the old bridges were built. When the MacDonald bridge went up Dartmouth more than quadrupled in size within a decade or so. Major transportation projects should be used as tools to shape the city in desirable ways, not merely as simple "fixes" to current problems.