Transportation committee passes traffic jam study up to council

City Hall’s Transportation Committee has decided not to decide the future of Halifax’s road network. At least not yet.

Staff gave the standing committee the Road Network Functional Plan on Thursday. It’s a look at where traffic jams will probably happen yesars into the futre.

“What the model does is it projects where people want to travel because of changes in settlement pattern and employment pattern,” said HRM Transportation Manager Dave McCusker. “You can see delays starting to increase and congestion being evident, but it doesn’t take much more additional volume before that delay goes up exponentially, and that’s where we need to take action.”

Members agreed it’s such a big issue tied to HRM’s master plan that all of council should have a look, at Committee of the Whole.

Separately, staff showed the potential future of Bayers Road heading to the 102. Future plans could have it widened, eating up a few properties.

“To keep the heart of the downtown, you’ve got to have the arteries,” said Councillor David Hendsbee.

“For me, this is the hardening of the artery,” countered Councillor Jennifer Watts. She argued that discussion of the plan should be put off until council reviews the larger plan. “The way the community moves through that district, the cost, the economic costs, are all huge. And to have this reduced down to a very small conversation about a regional plan that was put in place at a high level, that we passed through without really understanding the significance is, I think, not doing any of us a service in terms of where we need to be.”

The committee will revisit the Bayers Road study in the fall.

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