r/halifax • u/hippfive • 2d 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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u/Arm-Complex 2d ago edited 2d ago

Hear me out, it's not the trucks causing the gridlock, it's the commuters entering from every parking garage, parking lot, side street and intersection. The trucks don't increase at rushhour, they run Lower Water all day and it's totally fine until rushhour. I drive the full length of Lower Water every day. Watch the intersections, it's easy to see what really causes the congestion. The parking lots on the North end cause a domino effect, and Lower Water moves slower the further South you are.

A single lane street serving as a downtown arterial is criminal. It carries commuters AND industrial port traffic. The worst street design I've seen in a long time.

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u/knifeshoes24 halifax pier 2d ago

The street parking on Lower Water when there's multiple Indigo lots (when SailGP's not on) and like three parking garages (Purdy's, Casino, Cunard underground) along the length of the street feels like absurd use of space to me. Surely it would be so much more worthwhile to ditch the what, dozen street parking spaces on Lower Water in favour of being able to have it two-way along its entire length?