Removing bike lanes in Halifax won't help traffic congestion, says Dalhousie professor

Halifax residents debate on bike lanes Residents in Halifax seem to disagree on if bike lanes are useful, or if they instead cause more traffic congestion.

Bike lanes line many streets throughout Halifax with more expected to come.

It’s welcome news to Lucas Thorne-Humphrey who both cycles and drives a car.

“Infrastructure like that is really important to a city for its livability as well as our climate footprint,” said Thorne-Humphrey.

It seems those in Ontario disagree. The Progressive Conservative government is fast-tracking legislation which would require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a lane of vehicle traffic.

The Ontario government also plans to go one step further and remove some bike lanes in Toronto to restore them as lanes for vehicles.

“I think it’s very surprising to see that,” said Dalhousie University transportation professor Ahsan Habib.

“We have done so much over the years to start moving away from car culture.”

According to a Nanos Research poll, 43 per cent of Atlantic Canadians feel bike lanes worsen traffic flow, while 31 per cent believe they improve traffic.

“They are an effective way to ultimately relieve traffic congestion, and we need more of them in our city,” said Thorne-Humphrey.

Suzanne James agrees, and points to the challenges of living on a peninsula.

“I think we have to do everything possible to reduce the number of vehicles on the peninsula,” said James.

Others, like Phil Hendry, who cycles and drives a car, thinks reducing the number of bike lanes around Halifax could help with traffic.

“I think it’d free up some space downtown,” said Hendry. “I’m OK with the removing of the bike lanes.”

Habib said bike lanes are not the issue when it comes to traffic congestion in Halifax.

“We are growing, so we need to grow our transportation system, so that’s a necessary step,” said Habib. “Making our transportation better does not mean only creating more lanes for cars.”

Over the last few years, the Halifax Regional Municipality has spent millions on bike lanes, with an additional $15 million committed this fall to expand the network.

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