New bus and bike lane plans for Herring Cove Road headed to committee

市政人员建议对鲱鱼湾路进行一些重大变化，希望重新设计繁忙的通道，以偏爱行人，自行车和公共汽车。

随着Spryfield发生的重大新开发项目，预计将在未来20年内在该地区建造2200多个新的住宅单元 - 市政府希望通过鼓励人们使用主动运输和过境而不是其运输需求来提高运输需求汽车。

目前，由于没有人行道或磨损的沥青人行道以及无法访问的公共汽车站，这条路对于行人来说也是不安全的。

周四，哈利法克斯地区委员会的运输常设委员会定于实际上开会，而鲱鱼湾的道路功能计划也在议程中。巨大的599页文档包括重新设计道路上的四个报告。这是一个过程的结晶，该过程始于2018年，当时委员会要求向从Spryfield到Armdale Rotary的道路上增加公交车道和主动运输基础设施的工作人员报告。

In April 2019, Erica Butlersummed up the progress so far for the Halifax Examiner:

这座城市正在创建一个新的功能为她计划ring Cove Road, featuring an “interim” plan with considerable improvements to walking and cycling, and an “ultimate” plan that includes some short but key transit lanes.

完整的计划，which you can see here, looks very promising, but the unknown timeline for implementation, especially when it comes to transit improvements, takes the potential wind out of its sails.

That plan was complete by September 2019, but in the report coming to the committee next week, transportation planning engineer Harrison McGrath writes that “it was determined that the scope and final deliverables did not provide the level of detail required to advance to detailed design between the Armdale Roundabout and Cowie Hill Road due to the complicated nature of this section.”

That was a 30% design, so the municipality then commissioned another plan just for that first section, a 60% design.

The consultant tabled that 60% design in September 2020, partially incorporating the city’s newRapid Transit Strategyand its planned bus rapid transit route for the road (the yellow line), along with necessary land purchases to enable the plans, and two options for the section just before the rotary. The 60% design also ran with the more expensive option from the 30% design — the “ultimate” plan, which includes more transit infrastructure at nearly 10 times the price, a Class D (very rough) estimate of $21.6 million versus $2.2 million.

提出了什么建议？

The preferred design now incorporates a shared active transportation path, for cyclists and pedestrians, along the east side of Herring Cove Road from the Armdale Rotary to Glenora Avenue, and a standard sidewalk on the west side. From Glenora Avenue to the 500 block, the plan calls for separated bike lanes and sidewalks on either side of the road. This is a slight departure from the 2019 plan, which had the separated bike lanes and sidewalks stretching further toward the rotary, to Cowie Hill Road.

In terms of transit infrastructure, the Rapid Transit Strategy contains plans for bus lanes in either direction for most of this part of Herring Cove Road.

As part of the 60% design, the municipality considered adding outbound lanes on the whole stretch.

“Due to significant constraints between Armdale Roundabout and Purcells Cove Road, it was agreed to begin the outbound transit lane south of Purcells Cove Road,” the report says.

After Purcells Cove Road outbound, the consultant contemplated two options in the 60% design: an in-bound lane from Cowie Hill Road to the rotary with some transit-only traffic signals outbound (Option 1), or bus lanes in both directions from Purcells Cove Road to Glenora Avenue (Option 2).

Both options also include realigning intersections like Purcells Cove Road and the curve in the road at Osborne Street, and while there are no private vehicle lanes being added, both options require road-widening and land-purchasing.

Option 1 would require the municipality to use part of 20 properties, and it would have to buy seven complete parcels due to the space required. Option 2 would require the use of part of 40 properties, and the outright purchase of 10.

There are also steep hills along the side of multiple sections of the road where the municipality would have to build new retaining walls — nearly a kilometre of walls in Option 1 plus an extra 110 metres for Option 2.

成本估算不包括房地产收购成本，但期权1为1020万美元，期权2为1,210万美元，包括税款。这些数字是整个项目的一部分，而不是大约估计的2160万美元的全部道路。

The consultant, Crandall Engineering, settled on Option 1: