Nova Scotia releases first-ever regional transportation plan for Halifax area

Nova Scotia has released a long-term transportation plan for the Halifax region.

A new 20-year transportation plan – said to be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada – aims to improve highways, expand ferry services and look at a possible passenger rail system in the Halifax area.

The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), created by Link Nova Scotia, lays out a long-term strategy to manage transportation options alongside a growing population. The plan focuses on Halifax and the surrounding 100-kilometre area, which is home to 63 per cent of Nova Scotia’s total population.

“The RTP is a blueprint for the future of regional transportation,” said Public Works Minister Fred Tilley in a news release. “It’s a baseline for the Province to work in collaboration with partners and it will help guide us as we continue planning for growth and development. It will also support the prioritization of significant infrastructure projects and identify potential funding as we begin to address the greater needs of the travelling public.”

The plan has 39 actions grouped into 10 strategies, looking at issues such as efficiency, reliability, safety, affordability, sustainability and resiliency.

The plan notes transportation is the second-highest expense for Nova Scotia households, costing $11,000 on average annually.

“Improving the quality of both infrastructure and service for those who walk, roll, cycle, and take transit will help ensure that people have a viable range of options to get where they need to go without driving,” the plan reads. “Providing these options can help households save thousands of dollars annually.

“Collectively, the actions in the RTP represent significant investment in the regional transportation system. Successful implementation will require support from all orders of government.”

Of its 39 actions, the plan lists some priority ones:

• develop options for MacKay Bridge to address bottleneck
• start design of Highway 102 corridor
• start design for connection between Hammonds Plains Road and Highway 101
• start design for connections to Mill Cove Ferry
• complete feasibility study on passenger rail service

“It’s going to take time to implement a lot of these fixes but as we move forward we should see improvement, expanded improvement, as we move forward and things get implemented,” said Tilley.

Other big projects include a core street review of the Halifax peninsula, a strategy for an inter-municipal bus service and future road corridors in Shearwater and Beaver Bank.

Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore said the plan is a “well-researched and forward-looking vision.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender accused the government of “playing politics with transportation.”

“This is not a government that is interested in rapid transit, it’s not a government that is interested in active transportation,” she said. “At the end of the day, what people want is to be able move quickly and efficiently to do the things they want to be able to do.

“For many that has to be in a car but everyone benefits from multi modal transportation. We don’t see evidence of that in this.”

Link Nova Scotia says it will provide regular updates on the plan’s progress.

“There is much work ahead,” the plan reads. “The RTP provides the broad outline to transform the Region’s transportation system.

“Each of the projects, policies, and programs recommended will require further definition, collaboration among partners, discussions with municipalities, opportunity for public input, and consultation with First Nations and impacted communities.”

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Emma Convey

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page