Bayers Road bus lane construction detour and the need to get transit ‘right’

Delays are expected on Bayers Road in Halifax as new bus lanes are being installed.

A significant detour for cars and buses. Road widening. Bus lanes. Two years of work.

That’s some of what can be expected as bus-only lanes are being added in each direction of Bayers Road from Connaught Avenue to Windsor Street.

Shawn Cleary, one of the two city councillors for the area, says 11 per cent of Halifax’s transportation on a given day is by transit – and that’s not good enough.

“If we want to become a more sustainable city, reduce that congestion, not enter those gridlock phases, then we need more people riding transit,” he says in an interview. “The best way to do that is make transit way better than it is today.”

Part of that goal involves completing the Bayers Road bus lanes.

While the lower part of the road – from Romans Avenue to Connaught Avenue – has bus lanes in both directions, the upper section does not.

That’s the purpose of phase two of Bayers Road work, which ramps up next month.

Construction impacts

Pedestrian access will be maintained during construction, but inbound vehicle traffic will not.

There will be a single lane of outbound traffic.

“I like to rip that bandaid off ahead of time, let people know that it is going to happen,” says the city’s project manager, Miguel Cierra. “One of those intersections that we’re particularly trying to get all the ducks in a row is actually the Oxford [Street] and Bayers Road intersection.”

Transit buses are already being detoured.

But, he says, the work – which is pegged at $17.7 million – is a must.

“I think it’s a critical path for HRM,” Cierra says.

The project is expected to take two years to complete, but the detour will be lifted in the winter months after construction stops.

Halifax Water is also upgrading some of its infrastructure at the same time.

Portions of properties along the road have already been purchased to support road widening.

For some people who live on Bayers Road, losing parking isn’t worth it.

“It’s no good for our city, especially here on Bayers Road, where it’s so busy, constantly,” says Doug Doyle. “You got cars who want to park on the side of roads because they have no driveways. They’re not going to be able to do that anymore.”

Halifax will be ‘doomed’ if city doesn’t get transit right: Cleary

But Cleary argues it’s all part of the bigger picture.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of the trade-offs between moving people faster through the municipality and offering up that convenience of parking right in front of where you might want to go,” he says.

Lucas Amiro, who lives nearby, says he’s fully supportive of the city’s plan.

“I just think there’s way too much traffic in this city, and we’re so car-dependent,” he says. “We need to find different ways to reduce the traffic.”

Cleary says there’s too much at stake to keep the status quo.

“We have to not only catch up to the growth that we’ve experienced in the last number of years, we have to prepare for the growth that’s coming over the next decade or two,” he says.

“If we do not get transportation right – and transit is a big part of that – now, we will be doomed as a city for the coming decades.”

In the end, Bayers Road, from Hwy. 102, will have bus lanes in both directions all the way up to Robie Street as part of the city’s bus rapid transit (BRT) plan.

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