Halifax councillors set to debate proposed 2-way bike lanes along Morris Street – Halifax

The debate around bike lanes is set to return to Halifax City Hall, as councillors will discuss the proposed two-way bike lanes along Morris Street in Tuesday’s regional council meeting.

The proposal would see Morris Street become a one-way street for vehicles.

For David Trueman of the Halifax Cycling Coalition, the only viable option is to move forward with the initial Morris Street connector plans. He says the grade of the hills are easier for cycling, compared with the other nearby Halifax streets.

“There’s no other way to come up from the harbour until you get up to Cogswell. So, this is the only choice for that uphill route,” he said.

During a council meeting last month, Mayor Andy Fillmore asked for a staff report on the cost and congestion impact of going ahead with the Morris Street connection.

While it could connect the AAA bikeway network at South Park Street with Hollis and Lower Water streets, the current plan will have Morris turned into a one-way street.

“Every way you look at it, it would’ve been very harmful, so now at least on that segment, we get a better look and there are very clear alternatives to converting that to a one-way and taking away vehicle capacity,” Fillmore said on June 10.

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Trueman takes issue with the idea that reducing the street to a one-way will significantly impact traffic.

“The staff report considered that, they did a traffic simulation study, and they didn’t consider the impacts were that great,” he said.

“Nor did council when they looked at that traffic study last time around.”

District 7 Coun. Laura White represents the area and issued a statement to Global News, saying she intends to vote against the motion.

She says she feels “that splitting the bike lanes will be more expensive and less useful.”

District 5 Coun. Sam Austin says he’s going to wait to see what White says about the motion on Tuesday, but acknowledges the connector needs to be built.

“This is a key piece of the network, we need to be building it,” he said.

“I was happy with making the street one way. Our analysis indicated that that’s doable.”

— with a file from Rebecca Lau 

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