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  #1  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2008, 6:31 PM
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Halifax Active Transportation

I think its about time we have a place to talk about non-car related transportation like cycling or walking. Here's an article from the Metro yesterday:

Quote:
Route 333 bike lanes nearing completion
DEVIN STEVENS, METRO HALIFAX
October 17, 2008 05:00




New bike lanes covering stretches of Route 333 between Beechville and Tantallon are nearing completion.


Construction has been underway since the summer on the busy roadway, where the installation of bike lanes covering a distance of 16 kilometres is being done to accommodate the growing number of cyclists.


The new lanes are expected to be fully complete by this fall and will cost the government about
$1 million, or $65,000 per kilometre.


Cathy Guest, co-owner of Freewheeling Adventures near Hubbards, is excited to hear of the new bike lanes. Freewheeling Adventures offers bike rentals and organizes road tours to cycle enthusiasts. Those tours used to include parts of Route 333, but were stopped because of the danger cyclists faced with the increasing amounts of traffic on the stretch of road.


“It’s pretty sweet there is a bike path,” Guest said. “Seeing bike paths in Halifax, and seeing them on Route 333, I feel there is a wave of action coming favouring cyclists.


“It’s very helpful for many people.”


Route 333 was chosen for the new bike lanes because of its ability to connect with HRM bike lanes on St. Margarets Bay Road. The government is using a modified chip seal and recycled asphalt for the lane surface, which costs $60,000 less per kilometre than traditional asphalt lanes.


This section of road is one of two in the province installing new lanes for cyclists. About 60 kilometres of road on the Cabot Trail is also scheduled for widening, with work currently taking place between St. Ann’s and Cape Smokey. Those bike lanes should be complete later this fall also.


If both projects prove successful, the province plans to continue making bike-friendly improvements until both stretches of road are complete
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  #2  
Old Posted Oct 18, 2008, 8:32 PM
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That's a very dangerous road that just got more dangerous with this given the way the lanes are built around here.
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  #3  
Old Posted Nov 21, 2008, 8:16 PM
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This is intersting. I only that there were a couple of bus lanes in HRM but I've been proved wrong.

Exclusive Bus/ Bicycle Lanes in HRM

(Friday, November 21,2008) Two exclusive bus lanes in HRM have been re-designated as exclusive bicycle/ bus lanes. Bicycle symbols have been installed on the left turn approach to the Macdonald Bridge on Wyse Road, and on the sign for the bus queue-jumping lane on North Street, just east of Gottingen. These new symbols are intended to designate these lanes as exclusive to both buses and bicycles.


While the NS Motor Vehicle Act requires cyclists to travel as near as practicable to the right side of a travel lane, in practice some travel lanes may be too narrow for a bicycle to share side by side with a bus. Transit operators and police have been advised that cyclists may legally occupy these lanes in a more central position when impractical to share side by side.

Other exclusive bus lanes in HRM including those on Portland Street and on Wyse Road at Alderney/ Windmill are paired with Transit Priority Signals. These signals are not currently applicable to bicycles and for this reason, these lanes have not been re-designated as above."
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Old Posted Nov 22, 2008, 1:45 AM
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Another new bus lane is at the intersection of Wyse Road and Windmill Road; there are now two left turning lanes from Wyse onto Windmill Road heading towards Alderney Drive, with the right lane being a bus lane. However, I have no idea how it's supposed to work, I'm assuming the plan is to install a transit priority signal (if they haven't already) activated by a bus in the lane, however when I drove through there one afternoon there was no such signal or direction of how things are supposed to work, and I got cut off by a bus making the left turn from the right lane as I tried to make my left turn from the left lane. I wish the idiot traffic people in this city would wait until their ducks are in a row before painting the lines and making it a bus lane...
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  #5  
Old Posted Dec 3, 2008, 8:22 PM
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HRM has finally updated their cycling website (HERE) for the first time in years.

Here are the new lanes from 2008 they mention:

• Bell Road from Robie Street to Trollope (one side only, 0.3km)
• Bell Road from Trollope to Sackville Avenue (both sides, 1 linear km)
• South Park Street from Sackville Street to University Avenue (both sides, 1 linear km)
• Hammonds Plains Road from Hwy 102 Ramps to Innovation Drive (both sides, 1 linear km)
• Main Street from Ridgecrest Drive to Caledonia Road (both sides, 4.2 linear km)
• Purcell's Cove Road from Burns Drive to Wenlock Drive (both sides, 2.2 linear km)
• Windsor Street from Bayers Road to Maxwell Street (both sides, 1 linear km)

The total so far is 47.6km around HRM
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Last edited by Dmajackson; Dec 3, 2008 at 8:43 PM.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 7, 2009, 8:27 PM
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A new trail for Noth Preston:

HRM APPROVES TRAIL PROJECT
North Preston will soon be con­nected to Cherry Brook by a walking trail now that regional council has approved a $250,000 project.

The communities don’t have any sidewalks or formal walk­ways, a staff report says, so walkers and cyclists are forced to use the road or the shoulder. The active transportation trail will run parallel to Lake Major Road and be maintained by the Preston Area Trail Association.
Halifax Water, which will have the trail on its property, is also building a new water main con­necting both communities to Lake Major.

The trail is a great opportunity for the area, said Deputy Mayor David Hendsbee (Preston-Law­rencetown- Chezzetcook), who is hopeful it will be the first of many trails to be built in the area over the next few years.
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2009, 10:15 PM
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Bike Map 2009

The new HRM Bike Map for 2009 has been released for online viewing.

Bedford, Sackville & Suburbs
Halifax & Dartmouth

Some apparently planned future bike lanes in the plans;

Bedford Highway - Southgate to Meadowbrook - 2009
Hammonds Plains - Innovation to Bluewater - 2009/10
Main Street - Montague to Riley - 2009/10
South Park - Morris to Inglis - 2009

Halifax Urban Greenway - South to Roxton - 2009
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  #8  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 4:37 AM
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I realised something when I was walking around the North-End earlier today. The area is filled with cyclists but on my entire trip (see my photo thread for the path) I didn't see a single 'Share the Road' sign or bicycle lane.

Someone who lives in the area might have a better idea but I was thinking they could easily install a bicycle lane on Agricola between Almon and Younge, have the bicycle lane run up Young to Windsor and down Windsor to the existing bicycle lane. And if they either installed bicycle lanes or 'Share the Road' signs on the remainder of Agricola down to Cunard, and on North Park and bicycle lanes on both Trollope and Ahern there would be continuous bicycle path from University/Morris to Strawberry Hill.

IMO Halifax needs one long bicycle friendly path that connects the major areas. Once thats built then the city could branch out to other areas like a bicycle lane from Agricola to the McDonald Bridge, Windsor to Quinpool, and Brunswick to South Park.

Seeing the low traffic and the straight, flat terrain of Agricola I think the street should serve as the main bicycle corridor on the Peninsula. What do you guys think though?
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  #9  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2009, 10:34 AM
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I'm not sure Agricola has enough width to support bike lanes. If you want to keep on-street parking (which I think you must, given the number of row houses without driveways) it would be tough. Especially in the winter when you have snowbanks that extend out into the street.
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  #10  
Old Posted Apr 30, 2009, 3:58 AM
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i brought this up breifly in the Fast Ferry thread but I thought I would go into more detail here and see what you guys think of this;

On the Bedford Highway from Southgate inbound to Kearney Lake there are currently two horrible bicycle lanes just paved on the shoulder of the road. The problem arises when one thinks of the high speed limit (70km/h) and the narrow width of the road. Now I've been emailing Councillor Outhit and when I brought up the idea of a median seperated bicycle lanes he seem to express some support for the idea. I've been doing some research and came up with three ideas for the stretch between Southgate and Larry Uteck;

Option 1: Construct one two-way physically seperated bicycle lane on the western side of the highway with crosswalks and space provided for bus stops,

Option 2: Construct two one-way physically seperated bicycle lanes with one on each side of the highway corrosponding to the direction of traffic. Leave space for bus stops on the highway,

Option 3: Same as option two but have the bus stop lay-over onto the bicycle lanes to free up vehicular traffic and to stop pedestrians from crossing in front of bicycles.

When considering these keep in mind the road is two-lanes, no curb/sidewalk (in most spots), wide right-of-way, very busy, has 3 bus routes, and the bicycle lanes are to be continued this summer northbound from Southgate as a standard HRM bicycle lane (painted one on each side).

What option would you choose? Or are there better ideas that could work?

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Old Posted Jun 17, 2009, 5:05 PM
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Talking Yay!

Installation of Bike Lanes on Bedford Highway

(Tuesday, June 16, 2009) - On Tuesday, June 16, installation of bike lanes will begin on Bedford Highway from Southgate Drive to Meadowbrook Drive during the hours of 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This work is expected to continue on an ongoing basis until approximately July 15. There will be occasionally stop and go traffic during this work. Motorists should expect delays and are requested to find alternate routes.

- 30 -

All I can say is thank god. I use the Bedford Highway a lot on my bicycle and well to say the least its a scary as hell ride in some of this stretch. With the exception of where I have to turn left at HP these will defenitely help my travels.

And for anybody unfamiliar with Bedford, Meadowbrook is the intersection with the old fire hall and a brand new bicycle/pedestrian only rail crossing over to Shore Drive at Lions Playground.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2009, 7:23 PM
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I was on the bus today and was thinking about this kinda. Bedford could have a link going out threw burnside. I just couldn't think of a good stop in bedford for it...
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  #13  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2009, 7:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalNinja View Post
I was on the bus today and was thinking about this kinda. Bedford could have a link going out threw burnside. I just couldn't think of a good stop in bedford for it...
Well I've thought of that quite a bit too and two places come to mind;

- It could be right on Dartmouth Road at Magazine Hill with a small park-n-ride lot in the nearby forest and the middle lane could easily be turned into a bus only lane from the Magazine to Ridgevale Drive with alternating lanes for rush-hour.

- Or of course Sunnyside could always work with either demolishing the Canadian Tire, Petro-Can or Sunnyside/Sunnyside-Too restaurants.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2009, 10:21 PM
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I think Canadain Tire would be the best spot for one.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 2:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ View Post
Sunnyside/Sunnyside-Too restaurants.
NO. I love going there for breakfast.

Demolish the Chicken Burger before you demo the Sunnyside.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 2:24 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hfx_chris View Post
NO. I love going there for breakfast.

Demolish the Chicken Burger before you demo the Sunnyside.
But what would I use as a landmark to direct people to my house?

But back to the bicycle lanes I mentioned earlier today;

They haven't started to paint anything yet but a lot of the curbs have be reinstalled along the road to make way for the lanes.

And just for any possible people who do not think theres enough cyclist interests out here consider this;

I got passed on the Bedford Highway near Meadowbrook tonight by another cyclist.

And I spent about five minutes talking to a fellow in his car outside of Timmy's about my bicycle and how you need a motor to make it around town.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 1:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ View Post
But what would I use as a landmark to direct people to my house?
Bedford doesn't have landmarks.
I love the highway sign when you approach Bedford on the 102 something along the lines of... "Bedford, A traditional resting point" or something similar. That's about all Bedford is good for

I joke, I joke...
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  #18  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 5:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hfx_chris View Post
Bedford doesn't have landmarks.
I love the highway sign when you approach Bedford on the 102 something along the lines of... "Bedford, A traditional resting point" or something similar. That's about all Bedford is good for

I joke, I joke...

haha, too true

And I think it says "Bedford, A traditional stopping place" lol
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  #19  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 10:04 PM
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That's it. Pretty lame really, I mean you've got Kentville: Shire Town of Kings, Windsor: Home of Sam Slick, Bedford: A Traditional Stopping Place...
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  #20  
Old Posted Jun 18, 2009, 10:46 PM
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Man I'm starting to regret re-opening this thread

Maybe this should be renamed "Bedford Dissing Thread"
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