Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore plans to bring a motion to city council Tuesday aimed at improving traffic flow around construction sites across the municipality. The motion calls on staff to develop a report and action plan, “with priority given to measures that are operationally simple to implement and can be accommodated within existing approved budgets and resources.” Fillmore says construction is necessary to build and repair the city’s infrastructure, but he acknowledges the impact it has on drivers. “It’s no surprise that people living in the Halifax Regional Municipality are right now facing levels of congestion and delays and traffic that they’ve never seen before,” he said. “People are trying to get to work, trying to get to school, trying to pick up the kids or drop the kids off.” Two significant projects underway right now are the Windsor Street Exchange Redevelopment – which currently has a detour with the Robie Street ramp closed – and the Bayers Road Transit Priority Corridor project. Fillmore said congestion is coming up regularly at his public budget consultation sessions. “It’s pretty clear that the number one issue being raised at these consultations is congestion questions about what the municipality is going to do about that.” While the mayor is eager to hear from staff, there are some ideas he wanted to start with. “Some of these include getting police officers or other qualified personnel [peace officers] out there, flagging and directing traffic when the traffic signals aren’t actually responding to the conditions on the ground,” Fillmore said. Other potential measures include temporarily eliminating parking along major roads during peak hours in construction sites and coordinating with traffic navigation apps to ensure drivers are aware of the city’s construction projects. While the motion does not specifically address nighttime construction, Fillmore said it could be a better option in some areas. “I think there are lots of, certainly commercial areas, downtowns and then along major arterials where nighttime construction that would not interfere with people sleeping, would be far preferable to the congestion that comes up,” he said. Drivers who spoke to CTV News at the Windsor Street Exchange think that idea is appealing. “Absolutely,” said one driver. “It works in other parts of the country. I think it would work fine here too.” Another agreed, saying nighttime construction “would be great,” but he worried “I’m not sure who wants to work at night.” Nova Scotia Public Works Minister Fred Tilley said construction is a double-edged sword, with necessary infrastructure improvements being better in the long run, but he acknowledged the short-term disruption. Tilley points to the Halifax Peninsula Core Streets Review as an important step toward understanding traffic conditions in the downtown and identifying potential improvements. “I think in the short term, the Peninsula Street Review is going to be a big piece to this work because we’ll have really good information about how things are working now in the core streets and how we can improve those,” Tilley said. Tilley also points to adaptive traffic signals that monitor traffic volumes as another potential way to improve traffic flow. Looking further ahead, he says light rail is one example of a project that could have a significant impact on congestion. Tilley says it’s always important to work with other stakeholders; something Fillmore’s motion spells out for consultation with “Link NS, Halifax Transit, Public Works, the Major Projects Office, Public Safety, Halifax Regional Police, and the Halifax District RCMP.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
