FAQs

The project includes Portland Street and Cole Harbour Road from Alderney Drive / Prince Albert Road to Bissett Road.

The functional planning process is the first stage of redesigning a street. The objective of the Functional Plan is to develop a vision for the corridor based on its current and future needs and based on direction from existing transportation and land use plans and policies, like the Integrated Mobility Plan, the Active Transportation Priorities Plan, Halifax Transit’s Moving Forward Together Plan, among others.

Functional Plans help us to:

• Identify potential street configuration options that aim to improve certain aspects of the street. Functional plans on urban corridors tend to focus on addressing gaps in active transportation infrastructure (e.g., sidewalks, bicycle lanes) and improving public transit through transit priority measures and enhanced bus stops.
• Understand the potential implications of different design options on the street functionality (e.g., traffic impacts, curbside access) and impacts to right-of-way, private properties, and utilities, among others.

The communities of Dartmouth and Cole Harbour are rapidly growing alongside the rest of the municipality.   This project aims to develop a vision for the next 15-20 years that will improve the street experience for all users and meet future mobility demand.  Congestion will be managed by providing a range of high-quality transportation options with a focus on moving people more efficiently and shifting reliance away from single occupancy vehicles.

This is guided by various HRM policies like the Integrated Mobility Plan (2017), the Rapid Transit Strategy (2020), the Active Transportation Priorities Plan (2014), the Road Safety Framework (2024), and the HalifACT Climate Action Strategy (2020).

The study has been undertaken to develop a future vision for this street that seeks to:

• Determine how best to implement transit priority towards future BRT service;
• Enhance pedestrian realm and incorporate connected cycling infrastructure;
• Improve people-moving efficiency and address future mobility demand;
• Apply a Complete Streets lens to promote a mixed commercial + residential ‘main street’; and,
• Base recommendations on best practices for road safety address areas of previous collisions.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is fast, frequent, all-day bus service which allows people to move around the municipality easily and reliably. Unlike local transit which makes frequent stops, BRT has fewer stops which are located at major destinations and intersections, allowing buses to move people around more quickly. BRT also often runs in dedicated bus lanes as much as possible, allowing it to provide reliably fast service by avoiding traffic congestion.

From the Rapid Transit Strategy, Portland Street between Alderney Dr/Prince Arthur Rd and Portland Hills Terminal will receive BRT service as part of the ‘Red Line’ with target of connecting to Downtown Halifax (Scotia Square) within 30 minutes.  The strategy proposes increased transit frequency with a bus coming by every 10 minutes or less throughout the day.  For this project, the transit frequency of this BRT service along Portland was estimated to be every 5 minutes in both directions in the AM and PM peak periods.

This functional planning project focuses on infrastructure. Proposed concept design scenarios incorporate transit priority features such as dedicated transit lanes, queue jump lanes, and signal priority as much as possible.  The assumption in this plan is that transit service upgrades to realize this BRT ‘Red Line’ will take place in the coming years alongside construction of this project.

The study area east of Portland Hills Terminal does not currently include BRT service or dedicated transit lanes.  However, there is potential that this could be extended in the future if a new terminal (or park & ride) is installed in Cole Harbour. 

By providing a more frequent, fast and reliable service, Rapid Transit makes transit easier to choose. Even if you regularly drive, you may find that Rapid Transit offers a great alternative to driving for some of your trips. For example, you may discover that it’s just as fast to get to work using Rapid Transit as driving—and you can save money on gas and parking. Or perhaps you choose to get home using Rapid Transit after going out to dinner and a movie. Even if Rapid Transit doesn’t make sense for you, the environmental benefits of fewer people using their cars can benefit everyone.

Yes, the majority of this corridor would receive protected cycling lanes that are physically separated from the roadway by curbs and/or treed boulevards.  

One-way protected bike lanes on each side of the street are proposed between Eisener Blvd and Bissett Rd.   A two-way bikeway on the north side of the street is proposed between Lakefront and Eisener to better provide access to the Penhorn Terminal and connect into the new proposed walking + cycling bridge across Highway 111 (the Circ).  

West of Lakefront, the cycling route would diverge into Maynard Lake Park and use a series of parallel local streets (e.g. Summit, Erskine) to connect into the Shubenacadie Canal Greenway system near Sullivan’s Pond.  An alternative routing is also proposed down Old Ferry Road to connect to the Dartmouth Harbourfront Greenway.  These routes would be see bikeway upgrades in the future subject to additional analysis.

The movement of cycling routes off Portland Street west of Lakefront was a challenging decision made by the project team meant to balance trade-offs with adjacent homes and prioritize the continuation of transit features through this critical (and narrow) section.

Traffic on Portland Street and Cole Harbour Road is often busy during peak hours, especially on segments with access to/from Highway 111 (the Circ).  While balancing traffic flow is an important factor, this project focuses primarily on improvements for modes that are currently underserved like transit, walking, and cycling.

The Integrated Mobility Plan (2017), outlines the Municipality’s approach to managing congestion by providing residents with a range of high quality transportation options to reach their destinations. The result is that less people may use their cars to drive alone, and could instead choose transit, walking, or cycling, leading to overall fewer cars on the road.  In turn, this could make it easier to get around by car when driving is necessary.

Yes, some of the proposed concept design scenarios involve widening the road (Scenario 2: Expanded).   However, this is not for the addition of vehicle lanes.  Any widening would be to provide dedicated transit lanes or enhanced walking and cycling facilities like wide sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and tree boulevards.

One of the concept design scenarios being discussed (Scenario 1: Reallocated) involves repurposing the curbside lane for transit use only.  This is quick and cost effective to implement, however, there are potential trade-offs for people driving.  Designs would include one through lane for vehicles and widen at intersections to include separate turn lanes where necessary.

Much of Portland Street and Cole Harbour Road does not currently have on street parking. The exception is a short section on Portland between Alderney and Pleasant street, as well as between St George’s Lane and Lakefront Road. This parking is generally mid to low utilization and located on one side of the street only.  Depending on which concept design scenario is chosen, some of these parking spaces may be lost.  In particular, this would be related to the installation of a continuous inbound transit lane in Scenario 2.  For Scenario 1, impacts would be limited to areas in immediate proximity of signalized intersections.

A guiding objective of this project is to improve road safety for all users and address areas of previous collision history.  The proposed concept design options investigate elements like roundabouts to reduce conflict points and road narrowing to promote slower speeds along the corridor.  These come with trade-offs that are discussed more in-depth alongside each proposed design scenario.  Separation of uses (e.g. transit from cars, bicycles from cars, and bicycles from pedestrians) in dedicated lanes can improve predictability, reduce conflict between users and improve the overall safety of a street.

Public feedback will help us better understand the community's preferences and priorities regarding the project. In particular, we are interested in learning about public perception of the trade-offs associated with each design scenario. Responses will help to refine the concept design scenarios and help determine which are moved forward to 30% functional design.  It’s possible that a hybrid approach could be taken to piece together preferences for each section of the corridor.  The recommended scenarios will be brought forward to Regional Council for decision-making in late 2024 or early 2025.

The functional plan is subject to the approval of Regional Council.  They will provide direction on which scenario to move forward with for implementation.   The detailed design process and any necessary property acquisition will likely take a few years to complete.  Changes may not begin in 2025 or 2026, but will be phased over the few years after pending budget availability.  An implementation plan would be developed based on the selected scenario to determine how best to roll out these street improvements.  

Speed of implementation is factored into the criteria evaluation when considering which concept design scenario to pursue for each section of the project.