Halifax council approves Gottingen bus lane during peak times

Halifax will soon have fewer parking spaces, but in their place come a bus lane, a bicycle lane and a nod from council to commit to improving the city's streets.

Council unanimously voted Tuesday afternoon to put a bus lane along the Gottingen Street corridor, based on recommendations from last month's transportation and standing committee meeting.

The bus lane will be in effect during peak times Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with provisions for intermittent northbound transit measures during off-peak times.

Short-term parking between 15 and 90 minutes will also be allowed, as well as loading zones.

Deputy Mayor Waye Mason said council listened to concerns from residents and business owners about losing the parking during evenings and weekends.

"I think this is a really good compromise," he said.

The recommendations include a parking loss mitigation plan, a supplementary report about moving northbound express buses to a different route and moving Dartmouth-bound buses to Barrington Street as well as a plan to measure and evaluate the impact of the project within one year.

The motion passed unanimously.

Bicycle lane worries businesses

Councillors also voted to install 1.2 kilometres of protected bicycle lanes on South Park Street, which include changes to the right-of-way on both sides of the street between Sackville and Inglis streets.

But the bicycle lane brought forward concerns about the loss of 17 parking spots near the Lord Nelson Hotel and what that would mean for businesses.

Coun. Steve Adams questioned staff about whether the Spring Garden Area Business Association was consulted and what was done to alleviate its concerns.

"Show us the studies that say this will affect business," Coun. Tony Mancini said in support of the motion.

Several councillors also wondered about another option considered by the transportation committee, which would have seen the bike lane created out of the sidewalk.

Coun. David Hendsbee said that would be "a more logical fit" and put forward an amendment to see what that option would cost.

But Coun. Sam Austin said that was "dropped for a reason" and both he and Mason pointed out that those sidewalks are some of the busiest in Halifax.

Council voted 8-5 against Hendsbee's amendment.

Mason put forward an amendment of his own — which passed unanimously — to include a two-year supplementary staff report to monitor the bicycle lane.

"We need to actually measure and evaluate," Mason said.

Coun. Shawn Cleary, who held up his own bicycle helmet during council, said this was the first big test of the city's integrated mobility plan.

"When there's uncertainty, there can be a reluctance to do things we haven't done before. But there isn't much uncertainty here. We have lots of evidence and lots of examples to draw on," Cleary said.

​"Today we're going to find out if our unanimous support of the reprioritization of our streets was a lot of hot air, or if we're actually committed."