Bike lane pilot project in Halifax to benefit cyclists, other road users, officials say

The ranks of Canadian cities with new bike infrastructure will soon include Halifax, with the announcement that the Nova Scotia city will be the recipient of a 300-metre bike lane, to be installed along Rainnie Drive, near the Citadel.

Rainnie’ss bike lane will be placed on the one-way portion of the road, the CBC reports, extending as far as Gottingen Street. Running in both directions, with a yellow line dividing the different routes of bike traffic, the new lane will be 1.5 metres wide. The street itself, meanwhile, will be redesigned in order to accommodate the new infrastructure, with a plastic posts to the right of spaces for parked vehicles establishing a barrier to protect the bike lane. To the right of the lane itself will be the sidewalk.

Construction, city officials say, could begin and reach its completion before fall is finished.

One of those officials — Hanita Koblents, active transportation coordinator for the city of Halifax —
echoed counterparts in other municipalities in describing the new infrastructure as a benefit for all road users, not just cyclists. Above all, though, the city’s objective remains getting more riders on the road. In that respect, cyclists very much take priority. “When you give them a separate right of way to travel on,” Koblents said, citing the efficacy of bike lanes in other cities, “all of a sudden bicycling becomes very comfortable.”

Though there are details to be ironed out, the long term plan for Halifax’s bike-friendly pilot project is aimed, ideally, at extending the lane to Brunswick Street, a route that would ultimately connect with the Halifax Central Library. But though it may take a while to get there, cycling advocates in Halifax describe the new infrastructure as a solid leap forward.

“The city says that they want more people biking,” said Blair Barrington, a board member of the organization, in conversation with the CBC. “It’s this kind of infrastructure that’s going to do it.”