Hollis Street bike lane construction begins Tuesday

After five years of proposals, promises, delays and setbacks, construction on the Hollis Street bike lane project in downtown Halifax begins Tuesday.

The bike lane will run from just south of Cogswell Street to Terminal Road.

The lane will be on the left side of the street and there will be a painted half-metre buffer area to create separation between vehicles and bicycles.

On the right side of the street, the parking metres currently in place will remain, as will the accessible parking spaces.

Construction starts on Hollis Street between Salter Street and Terminal Road, and motorists should expect delays and interruptions.

The city says the work in this area is the first part of a two-phase project.

The entire project should take about four weeks to complete.

In late July, Dexter Construction was awarded the tender for the project, after it came in with a low bid of $230,900, which was more than the $175,000 the city had budgeted for the project.

Some cyclists have raised concerns about the bike lane's connectivity to existing infrastructure.

A popular multi-use pathway currently stretches from the Macdonald Bridge, along Barrington Street, around the Casino Nova Scotia and flows onto the Halifax Waterfront boardwalk. Cyclists have asked staff to consider building a safe route to get from this path, across busy Upper Water Street and onto the planned Hollis Street lane.

The Hollis Street bike lane will not include that connection.