Halifax mayor's move to pause bike lane construction defeated

Halifax will continue to move ahead with its bike network after councillors voted 12-5 to defeat a motion by the mayor asking to temporarily pause awarding new design and construction contracts for bike lanes.

Mayor Andy Fillmore made the motion at regional council on Tuesday afternoon. During the meeting, Fillmore said he was concerned that the costs of the AAA (all ages and abilities) bicycle network were escalating and it was contributing to Halifax's increased traffic congestion.

"Halifax now has the third-worst congestion in Canada and the fifth-worst congestion in North America," Fillmore said. "People here are spending 83 hours a year stuck in traffic. That's the equivalent of 12 working days behind the wheel in gridlock."

The pause would have lasted until staff came back with a report providing the list of bike lane projects over the next four years that could result in reduced vehicle traffic capacity and increased congestion. The mayor also asked that the report assess the feasibility of alternative network options that could achieve active transportation goals while "sustaining or improving current traffic flow."

Fillmore has not offered any evidence or details about how the current or future network segments increase traffic congestion, just that it's "empirical observation."

He cited downtown streets like Rainnie Drive and Lower Water Street that are now one-way since the addition of bike lanes.

"It's just a fact that there's space for fewer vehicles on those roads," Fillmore said.

Coun. Sam Austin said he was disappointed in Fillmore's motion and said bike lanes do not cause traffic congestion. He said delaying the work on bike lanes would worsen traffic.

"It's the people of this city who want to move around sustainably, who we've been left hanging by having this project run years behind schedule, and now we're proposing to add yet more time to that," Austin said.

"This isn't good governing, this is foolish."

Coun. Becky Kent agreed, adding any talk about pausing bike lanes should have happened when the budget was being discussed.

Coun. Laura White said the motion wasn't in line with the municipality's strategic plans.

"Think of people that bid on our contracts, if they think that at any time that we're going to change direction. It's not good for stability, for business," White said.

Coun. Trish Purdy said there didn't seem to be an accurate understanding of Fillmore's motion.