Sackville and Lower Water streets to be one-way only

Some key streets in downtown Halifax will soon become one-way only.

The biggest changes are Sackville Street, which will go only downhill from Brunswick Street, and Lower Water Street, which will go only northbound toward the Casino Nova Scotia.

There will also be some smaller one-ways added.

Most of the changes will be in place by mid-September. Lower Water Street will switch to a one-way in October, and the remaining changes will be done by March.

Dave McCusker, manager of strategic transportation planning  with the Halifax Regional Municipality, said the city hopes this will open space for other uses like bike lanes and more parking.

"Most of that is to co-ordinate the patterns a little bit better, but some of it is to give us more opportunity to use street space for things other than street use, things like parking and bike lanes," he said.

That sold Paul MacKinnon, executive director of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, on the idea.

"Real estate is so valuable downtown any time we can kind of free up space for those things which are real enhancements to downtown, is good," he said.

"Our downtown is very compact, we'd like to see less people driving around within the downtown, and using more active transportation, whether it's biking or walking or using buses or whatever."