East Hants Developments & Updates

[Hali87]

I have mixed feelings about LRT along the 100-series highways like the 102 or 111. This is basically how Calgary's C-Train works for most of its network but part of the reason this worked there is that their freeways tend to have huge medians that are wide enough to fit a double-set of tracks in, whereas ours don't have that kind of space except in further-out areas. Based on the way the neighbourhoods along the 102 interface with it, BRT could potentially work better for this type of route, just based on pragmatic concerns. LRT could also work but it seems like it would have to work "around" the existing highway infrastructure (including interchanges, etc) rather than being able to gracefully integrate with it. It's possible that the existing ROWs could be re-configured to allow enough space for tracks in the median, but the C-Train medians look several times wider than the median in the 102 south of Sunnyside.

Whether or not CN "should" work with HRM on commuter rail... they seem averse to the idea. On the other hand, apparently they're re-doubling the tracks through the rail cut, so maybe that will be a more practical option in the future. With the single track, it seemed unlikely they'd ever be willing to take on more passenger service - it's the only rail line available for freight to/from the port.

[someone123]

I should not have written "bad takes"; I apologize. That is too judgmental and I don't think there's anything wrong with people posting about hypothetical transit systems on internet forums.

What I think is unfortunate is that there is not much official forward-looking (20-30+ year) transit planning in Halifax to anchor these discussions. If there were such planning we could instead debate the different proposed LRT alignments, streetcars, tunnels, or whatever, and details in the reports. Instead there has not been much analysis so the discussions have an airy feel. This has gone on literally for decades while the city added more than 100,000 people. There has been similar inaction with bridges.

The BRT and ferry plan marked a departure from this but I think it's pretty clear that there are good odds that a system like that won't cut it in 2035 or 2045. Nobody could have foreseen exactly what growth would have happened and nobody knows what will happen years from now, but there can be plans for different eventualities, and it's pretty clear that high growth scenarios in HRM involving lots of density in some areas may require more than just more of what the municipality has done before. If Halifax is to build something more substantial the planning will have to happen many years in advance, so any planning that starts now is probably going to be for a region with 550,000 people or so. In a growing city if you plan slowly for the current population you will always be behind.

Furthermore Cogswell is happening but there's no real long-term sense of where transit is going so there could easily be some missed opportunities with that. Cogswell should be redeveloped with an eye to what the city might be like 30 years from now.

[Hali87]

Honestly, I can see one of two things happening over the next couple years:

Work-from-home and other forms of remote work become common enough that the transportation problems more or less sort themselves out, to the extent possible, and traffic doesn't really get worse than it is now.

Or, that doesn't happen, and with tens of thousands of people moving into greenfield developments in Bedford and Lantz, traffic along the 102/Bedford Highway corridor becomes significantly worse than it is now. In that case I think there would be very loud demands for more ambitious and coordinated infrastructure developments than what we've been seeing. The new ferry route is a step in the right direction but with the number of people moving into that area each year, it would only have the capacity to serve a fraction of those people on a regular basis.

I can't comment on the new BRT routes (I'm not sure whether they've launched yet) but there are definitely a lot more bus lanes these days and ordinary bus routes feel a bit more reliable / less liable to be stuck in traffic than in the past.

[Keith P.]

I think it is quite possible that in 30-50 years time the downtown as we presently think of it is gone and becomes instead a tourist/entertainment mecca, with daily business activity and large retail congregated near major transportation routes, either expressway interchanges or transit hubs. It is a long-term change but since people live mostly in areas convenient to those things and not downtown it makes sense.

Changing tracks slightly, the idea of a provincial transportation authority is interesting and could be good if done well. I would not want the same kind of mindset as that which currently prevails at the Bridge Commission however, which is a fairly sleepy, fat and happy organization. The main benefit I see is getting HRM out of the Transit business and hopefully eliminating both the inept Transit management and the toxic MTU from the equation as a result. It becomes one less thing for Council to waste money on.

[Dmajackson]

The Lantz Interchange opened last month. Officially called Highway 102 Exit 8A it is just north of the Elmsdale exit.

The Lantz interchange officially opened today, December 23. The completed project includes:

four new ramps forming a diamond interchange
a roundabout at each intersection of on- and off-ramps
a kilometre-long controlled access connector road linking Highway 102 to Trunk 2
a roundabout at Trunk 2
two new three-lane bridges over Nine Mile River on Highway 102
widening of both the northbound and southbound lanes of Highway 102.

Press Release

Google Maps

[Dmajackson]

Highway 102 Exit 8A - Lantz Connector (video by me)

• Video Link

And connecting to this road is Kiln Creek by Shaw. The first buildings are going up along Trunk 2.


Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

[Keith P.]

Roundabouts to nowhere apparently. Four roundabouts? Why so many? And why are taxpayers (I assume) building such things for the benefit of a private developer? Do we not have other roads that need attention and would be a higher priority?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Roundabouts to nowhere apparently. Four roundabouts? Why so many? And why are taxpayers (I assume) building such things for the benefit of a private developer? Do we not have other roads that need attention and would be a higher priority?

Obviously an ode to the profligate roundabout monstrosity that is Larry Uteck.

To be clear, I have nothing against roundabouts, and occasionally they can work quite well and be preferable to a signalized intersection, but traffic planners (especially in NS) seem to have gone off the deep end in term of their usage.

In short, "roundabouts if necessary, but not necessarily roundabouts".............

[Dmajackson]

CBRE is advertising a mixed-use development on Elmsdale Road (Hwy 214) just north of Elmsdale Superstore. The Site Plan shows two residential buildings of 6 and 4 floors along with the advertised commercial plaza.