[Halifax] Icon Bay Halifax | 75 m | 22 fl | Completed

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by sdm

WM fares is the engineer on the project, not the owner/developer if i understand correctly.

The only thing that sucks is here we have 19 stories proposed in the burb's, yet the residential building on the corner of morris and hollis is getting heat because its 10 stories. We are creating an awful amount of density outside the core.

I agree. Good thing this isn't too far off the peninsula.

[dartmouthian]

NIIIIIICE. I hope this one gets built. WM Fares has got a helluva lot of great projects. =D

[terrynorthend]

Yes, I like this one too. I'm just a little dismayed at all the proposals.. build something already!! Not just Fares.. anyone! ( and i'm not talking about the 4 story bumps going up all over the place )

[Phalanx]

Looks good. I'm going to be severely disappointed if this one doesn't get built, now...

[Jonovision]

Here are the renderings I lifted off the pdf.

[miesh111]

On my drive to work today I imagined this building there and it would be amazing. Would be a great 'welcome mat' on the way into the core from Bedford.

All's I know is there's no heritage property around here. It's already windy here because of the other two tall buildings and the open space across the basin. There's no view of anything historic that would be blocked. It's only going to sit a couple of stories higher then the buildings on top of the plateau (old area of Clayton Park around Lacewood, Glenforest Plateau Crescent). It's nicer than anything else built on this part of the mainland ever.

The only people that I can see upset by this is the people worried about traffic on the Bedford Highway / Fairview Overpass and the proposals seem to solve that with a new traffic light, presumably in sync with the ones at Bayview.

Lets see this get approved and see a shovel in the ground ASAP.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by miesh111

On my drive to work today I imagined this building there and it would be amazing. Would be a great 'welcome mat' on the way into the core from Bedford.

All's I know is there's no heritage property around here. It's already windy here because of the other two tall buildings and the open space across the basin. There's no view of anything historic that would be blocked. It's only going to sit a couple of stories higher then the buildings on top of the plateau (old area of Clayton Park around Lacewood, Glenforest Plateau Crescent). It's nicer than anything else built on this part of the mainland ever.

The only people that I can see upset by this is the people worried about traffic on the Bedford Highway / Fairview Overpass and the proposals seem to solve that with a new traffic light, presumably in sync with the ones at Bayview.

Lets see this get approved and see a shovel in the ground ASAP.

I believe the traffic study is the one that is going to hurt this proposal.

Is there not already an agreement to develop two 9 stories buildings on this site?

[worldlyhaligonian]

Why don't they just hook up Manor Lane and get ride of the access directly from the Bedford Highway? If I lived there I would prefer to enter from inside a neighborhood instead of off the busy highway.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

Why don't they just hook up Manor Lane and get ride of the access directly from the Bedford Highway? If I lived there I would prefer to enter from inside a neighborhood instead of off the busy highway.

If you look at the plans i believe they are suggesting traffic lights at the driveway to the dealerships, and that they will share their driveway.

I argee, direct access Manor Lane would be ideal.

[terrynorthend]

There are also plans afoot to replace the fairview overpass in the next couple of years. A well thought out approach that includes an intersection by Atlantic Acura would be ideal. I hate driving out Bedford Highway from Halifax, planning to turn up Lacewood, only to be stopped dead waiting for someone to turn left into the dealership. When its busy it really gums things up.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

There are also plans afoot to replace the fairview overpass in the next couple of years. A well thought out approach that includes an intersection by Atlantic Acura would be ideal. I hate driving out Bedford Highway from Halifax, planning to turn up Lacewood, only to be stopped dead waiting for someone to turn left into the dealership. When its busy it really gums things up.

The fairview over pass is up near dutch village road from the Bi high isn't it?

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by sdm

The fairview over pass is up near dutch village road from the Bi high isn't it?

I think you are talking about the Joe Howe interchange. The Fairview Overpass is the instersection of Joe Howe and the Bedford Hwy. Its the thing with the hairpin turn.

This proposal fronts right onto the overpass. They merge lane actually ends right across from the Acura entrance. They could easily install a stoplight there and extend the merge lane up to the bus stop and convert it into a bus queue jump lane.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ

I think you are talking about the Joe Howe interchange. The Fairview Overpass is the instersection of Joe Howe and the Bedford Hwy. Its the thing with the hairpin turn.

This proposal fronts right onto the overpass. They merge lane actually ends right across from the Acura entrance. They could easily install a stoplight there and extend the merge lane up to the bus stop and convert it into a bus queue jump lane.

Got ya, had them confused.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

There are also plans afoot to replace the fairview overpass in the next couple of years. A well thought out approach that includes an intersection by Atlantic Acura would be ideal.

Well, I think we can rule out any "well thought out approach". This is Halifax, after all...

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, I think we can rule out any "well thought out approach". This is Halifax, after all...

Unfortunately that seems to be a theme in the leadership (Council) and planning side of things...

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, I think we can rule out any "well thought out approach". This is Halifax, after all...

Yeah I suppose the same people who re-aligned the windsor street exchange will be behind whatever transpires here

[Dmajackson]

I drove through the fairview/windsor exchange area today and, stupid me, I was trying to figure out how tall this would end up being. Needless to say I almost drove headfirst into a snowbank but I think I got a general idea.

At nineteen stories the tower would be visible all around the Basin (probably be able to see it from my house in Bedford). On the Bfd Hwy it could be seen from Flamigo Dr to Windsor street. It would be very visible from the MacKay Bridge and because of the "valley" of sorts it would be visible for quite awhile down the Joe Howe Corridor. Even the Motor Inn that is there right now is visible for kms around the site and its only two stories high!

On another note I also got thinking about the Fairview Overpass. IMO instead of a new interchange being built I would rather see a workable intersection;

From Windsor Street the Bfd Hwy would be three lanes westbound and three lanes eastbound with a narrow median. The existing far left EB lane would be removed for a section to make this possible.

At Joe Howe a signalized intersection would be built with Joe Howe having three lanes NB. Two of these lanes would be dedicated for left-turn and one for right-turns. SB there would be two lanes. The Bfd Hwy WB would have the far left lane dedicated to left-turns only. On the EB side the Bfd Hwy would remain as two lanes and would keep the existing ramp for right-turns. This plan would not require much road reconfiguration work since the Bfd Hwy is already five lanes at the overpass and Joe Howe is four lanes.

With the removal of the ramps some new open sapce would be opened up which the city could take advantage of. IMO some should be used to install a bus lane through the intersection and the future Acura intersection. The remaining land could be either turned into park space or used as a bargaining tool with CN or the Port Authority. I would support the latter since it could be used to swap with the CN for other parcels of land (i.e. the railcut tops for the Greenway).

Now to tie this into the development in question the intersection suggested for the entrance would be a lot easier to build. The new road would be a normal two lane road while the Bfd Hwy would be seven lanes, two SB, one left-turn NB, two travel NB and one bus NB.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ

On another note I also got thinking about the Fairview Overpass. IMO instead of a new interchange being built I would rather see a workable intersection;

From Windsor Street the Bfd Hwy would be three lanes westbound and three lanes eastbound with a narrow median. The existing far left EB lane would be removed for a section to make this possible.

At Joe Howe a signalized intersection would be built with Joe Howe having three lanes NB. Two of these lanes would be dedicated for left-turn and one for right-turns. SB there would be two lanes. The Bfd Hwy WB would have the far left lane dedicated to left-turns only. On the EB side the Bfd Hwy would remain as two lanes and would keep the existing ramp for right-turns. This plan would not require much road reconfiguration work since the Bfd Hwy is already five lanes at the overpass and Joe Howe is four lanes.

I don't see how this could possibly work. At morning rush the traffic is already stop and crawl inbound. How would anyone heading WB on the highway ever get on to Joe Howe? And how much slower would the inbound traffic on the highway get with yet another set of lighhts? You have seen the existing non-functional signalized intersection at Windsor St -- in the evening traffic trying to get onto the MAcKay takes forever.

In a perfect world a proper grade-separated interchange would be built both at Joe Howe and at Windsor St. The hairpin turn needs to go. The province had a perfect opportunity to reserve some land when Winlie Containers was demolished a few years ago, but instead the let Ceres build a staging area for trucks hard up against the existing overpass. Foolish.

[Dmajackson]

I can't think of any ideas for the inbound traffic right now but one thing they could do for outbound traffic if there is room is insert a concrete median on the outside lane so they wouldn't have to stop at the lights. Of course without upgrades at Bayview the traffic wouldn't make it far afterwards.

One thing that could help is to move the sidewalk on the Main St ramp (Joe Howe onramp) further back and make the ramp longer hopefully opening up more space to reconfigure the interchange with.

The Windsor St intersection could work a lot better if the traffic had more oppurtunities to move. Right now every way has its own light which causes long waiting times and line-ups. If the intersection could be resignalized to allow two way traffic through it at times more cars would get through it.

I may not be a traffic specialist but one thing I can tell you is the highway in its enirity is a mess. The highway needs more predictable traffic flow and more universal speed limits (the highway changes speed at least 6 six times).

[Dmajackson]

I was looking at the Council agenda for tonight at it appears that the Land Ammendments for this project are being presented tonight for anyone interested.