Widen roads or add buses? Shipbuilding contract reignites debate

Two regional councillors are starting to explore options for accomodating a population boom in Halifax that’s expected to follow the $25 billion shipbuilding contract.

The contract, awared to Irving Shipbuilding this week, is expected to create thousands of new jobs – which means thousands of new workers and their families moving to HRM.

Gridlock is already an issue in Halifax and the debate over improving the transit system versus widening some major arteries is getting new life from the anticipated increase in traffic volume to the downtown area.

Coun. David Hendsbee (Preston-Lawrenctown-Chezzetcook) says that’s one more reason to widen Bayers Road – among others.

“I think also on Barrington, from bridge to bridge, we’ve got crumbling infrastructure there along the shipyards and dockyards now,” he pointed out. “We need to put in the capacity, in my opinion, of a reversing lane in there.”

But Coun. Tim Outhit (Bedford) says widening roads should take a backseat to improving public transit, especially in light of the $20 million price tag.

“Widening Bayers Road may not be the answer when we have rail and water available to us,” he said. “I think in the past there were even ferries that ran between the different naval dockyards and shipyards, etcetera.”

Hendsbee says he agrees that HRM’s transit system needs to be improved and expanded, but says that can’t be done without increasing the capacity of the city’s roads.

“If you want to get people in and through the peninsula, we have to do these things strategically,” he said. “Our current road network is inadequate. Put in the buses and traffic is not going to work. You have to put in the infrastructure for the buses to work.”

Hendsbee points out that the MacDonald bridge is scheduled to undergo a complete re-decking in 2014 – just as the shipbuilding work is expected to start ramping up. 

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