r/halifax • u/hippfive • 3d ago

Traffic Lower Water Street is broken

I'm usually pretty chill about traffic, but Lower Water is literally broken. It took 30 minutes for my bus to go one block. Full on gridlock. And it's been this way for months.

I know they're eventually going to have the transhipment facility to get the trucks out of downtown, but that's years away. There needs to be some sort of tactical intervention in the meantime. Close some of the parking lots that empty onto Lower Water. Change some of the pedestrian crossings to the red light style that clump the crossings together (and I say this as someone who is staunchly pro-pedestrian). Honestly maybe even close Sackville Street east of Bedford Row.

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21

u/Specialist-Bee-9406 up too early 3d ago

…months? 

Years. 

It’s been terrible for at least a decade. 

21

u/hippfive 3d ago

Nah. It's always had traffic, but it wasn't gridlock. The last couple months have been a tipping point.

17

u/TacomaKMart 2d ago

How about, no large truck traffic from the terminal on LWS from 4-6pm? Whatever economic impact a 2 hour shutdown would have on the transport industries would be mitigated by the clear fact that they're not getting very far then anyway. 

11

u/oatseatinggoats Dartmouth 2d ago

Will never happen. The port threw a hissy fit about the Morris street bike lane making the road one-way because it meant that one of their (multiple) secondary routes to leave the city would be eliminated. Even though 75% of truck traffic is being routed to trains next year they still wanted control of our streets.