The Halifax Cycling Coalition is petitioning Halifax regional council to create a bike lane corridor to connect the city peninsula’s north end to south end.
Coalition co-chair Steve Bedard said the proposed bike route, from the Fairview Overpass to Atlantic Street, would increase the safety of cyclists and encourage more people to switch from four wheels to two.
“One of the biggest barriers that prohibits people from cycling more is … the lack of dedicated infrastructure,” Bedard said. “What Halifax really lacks right now is a practical network that connects places where we live to places where we work, learn and play.”
Bedard said there are several advantages to what the coalition is calling the “Crosstown-Connector.”
“With a bike lane comes a gigantic amount of benefits, such as increased health of Haligonians, but also … a whole slew of economic benefits that could benefit local businesses along our route,” he said.
Coun. David Hendsbee, who sits on the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, said more attention to bike infrastructure in the municipality is “long overdue.” But he added one major challenge to the corridor is where to put the cars.
“The issue is going to be the parking places and the parking meters that (the corridor) would displace,” he said.
The committee is looking at several solutions, he said, including having bike lanes during the day but parking at night.
Bedard concedes parking is a potential hiccup.
“It all comes down to the issue of parking. That’s going to be the toughest sell to the community,” Bedard said.
“But again the neighbourhood is pretty accepting of its cycling culture … We’ve had really good feedback so far.”
Hendsbee said he hopes the wheels will start turning on the issue soon.
“It’s been chatted about and referred to in various bike report,” he said. “It seems that we have to validate it through analysis, and sometimes it turns into paralysis.”
