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Spring Garden Road Enhancements

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Consultation has concluded

Imagine Spring Garden Road

Working together to develop a shared vision for a great street in Halifax.

We've almost completed our street and sidewalk improvements! We've put in wider sidewalks with pavers, undergrounded all of the wiring, and added planters and seating.

Crews will be on-site over the next few weeks to complete the final phase of work, which was delayed due to an adjacent construction encroachment and COVID-19 supply chain issues impacting the delivery of materials. Renderings and project information can be found on this page.

Spring Garden Road is one of the region's busiest pedestrian shopping streets and a major corridor for Halifax Transit. Anchored by the popular Halifax Central Library at one end and the spectacular Halifax Public Gardens at the other.

After significant public engagement in 2018 and 2019, the Halifax Regional Municipality completed an $11 million investment in the streetscape of this important civic corridor. The street was narrowed to allow for wider sidewalks with ample seating opportunities, overhead lines were buried, and many trees and planters were installed.

Project Background

Spring Garden Road is one of the region's busiest pedestrian shopping streets and a major bus corridor. Regional Council has approved a major project further to the Halifax Economic Strategy to signal their commitment to the downtown core with meaningful investment. Following the success of the Argyle/ Grafton project, completed in 2017, Imagine Spring Garden Road aims to beautify the street and improve conditions for residents to stroll, shop and catch a bus.

What's been done to date?

Summer 2023
The scope of work for this phase of the project consists of the following: 

  • Installing the sidewalk, planters and trees on the south side of Spring Garden Road between Queen and Birmingham streets
  • Installing three new bus shelters 
  • Addressing deficiencies in existing pavers 
  • Replacing repairing benches
  • Addressing other deficiencies in infrastructure from previous work in 2021 

July 2022 - Bus-Only Pilot Project
A Bus-Only Pilot Project was launched for the Spring Garden Corridor between South Park and Queen Streets (restricting car traffic but permitting buses and bicycles), but this was paused after a few days. Halifax Regional Council directed staff to explore better ways to communicate and enforce the closure.  

Summer 2022
As the final planter work in 2021 ran until the end of December, the final installation of plant material and trees was not possible to complete until the summer of 2022.

Summer 2021
The majority of the streetscaping work was completed from June to December 2021. Which included widening the sidewalks, the addition of pavers, undergrounding all of the wirings, and adding planters and seating.

March 2021- Streetscaping project
The Spring Garden Road Streetscaping project has hit a significant milestone with the tender release for construction. The tender was released on March 8, 2021, and closed on March 30, 2021. Three bids were received.

November 2020 - Construction Changes 
Construction of a new traffic signal at Sackville Street and Dresden Row has been completed. To improve traffic circulation in the area and increase loading and parking space on the side streets, parts of Dresden Row and Birmingham Street have become one-way:

  • Dresden Row will be northbound, between Clyde Street and Artillery Place, but will remain two-way between Artillery Place and Sackville Street.
  • Birmingham Street will be southbound between Clyde Street and Artillery Place.

Accompanying these one-way changes is a temporary pilot project at the irregular intersection of Artillery Place, Queen Street, and Birmingham Street. This project tests out a new intersection design to improve the safety of this intersection.

View an information handout showing the changes coming to the intersections and the one-way streets.  

Learn more about this and other Street Improvement Pilot projects in the municipality.

Detailed Design and Construction Documents – Fall 2019 to Winter 2020/21

WSP has been hired as the engineering firm to complete the detailed design and construction drawings for the preferred schematic design option alongside Metz & Chew, who were selected as part of the team to develop the public art component.

Schematic Design – Spring and Summer 2019

Building on the selected functional design, two options for the schematic design were developed, the Pocket Park and the Paver Promenade options. There was an overwhelming preference for the Pocket Park design. However, people liked the open space found with the Paver Promenade design. So, we've created a hybrid design with a combination of vegetation and more open public spaces. In that process, we considered:

  • Reduction of linear planting beds to create more flow through on the street. Increase in rain garden vegetation to help with stormwater mitigation. Raised curbs around the planting areas to discourage pedestrians from walking through the beds.
  • Addition of flexible and moveable bright-coloured seating – including different types of seating and benches with backs and armrests.
  • Public art component and allow for special event flexibility.

A summary of all documentation created to date can be found on the documents page. Want to check out the final design? View the online photo gallery or video.

Functional Design – Fall 2018 to Spring 2019

Following extensive public engagement (more information included in Key Dates), Council approved the Spring Garden Road Functional Design Report on April 16, 2019. This report included two recommendations on how to proceed:

  1. Design and construct Option 4, streetscaping improvements between South Park Street and Queen Street.
  2. Collect data during construction and come back to Regional Council with a recommendation on loading, traffic diversion and a daytime transit priority corridor.

Stoplet Pilot Project - Summer 2018 + Summer 2019

In partnership with the Spring Garden Area Business Association, we installed a temporary stoplet on Spring Garden Road. Stoplet = bus stop + mini-park

This temporary project added more space and amenities to the sidewalk and improved the comfort of pedestrians and transit passengers. We tested ideas and recorded citizen feedback to help us understand the vision for the street that the public wanted to see.

Imagine Spring Garden Road

Working together to develop a shared vision for a great street in Halifax.

We've almost completed our street and sidewalk improvements! We've put in wider sidewalks with pavers, undergrounded all of the wiring, and added planters and seating.

Crews will be on-site over the next few weeks to complete the final phase of work, which was delayed due to an adjacent construction encroachment and COVID-19 supply chain issues impacting the delivery of materials. Renderings and project information can be found on this page.

Spring Garden Road is one of the region's busiest pedestrian shopping streets and a major corridor for Halifax Transit. Anchored by the popular Halifax Central Library at one end and the spectacular Halifax Public Gardens at the other.

After significant public engagement in 2018 and 2019, the Halifax Regional Municipality completed an $11 million investment in the streetscape of this important civic corridor. The street was narrowed to allow for wider sidewalks with ample seating opportunities, overhead lines were buried, and many trees and planters were installed.

Project Background

Spring Garden Road is one of the region's busiest pedestrian shopping streets and a major bus corridor. Regional Council has approved a major project further to the Halifax Economic Strategy to signal their commitment to the downtown core with meaningful investment. Following the success of the Argyle/ Grafton project, completed in 2017, Imagine Spring Garden Road aims to beautify the street and improve conditions for residents to stroll, shop and catch a bus.

What's been done to date?

Summer 2023
The scope of work for this phase of the project consists of the following: 

  • Installing the sidewalk, planters and trees on the south side of Spring Garden Road between Queen and Birmingham streets
  • Installing three new bus shelters 
  • Addressing deficiencies in existing pavers 
  • Replacing repairing benches
  • Addressing other deficiencies in infrastructure from previous work in 2021 

July 2022 - Bus-Only Pilot Project
A Bus-Only Pilot Project was launched for the Spring Garden Corridor between South Park and Queen Streets (restricting car traffic but permitting buses and bicycles), but this was paused after a few days. Halifax Regional Council directed staff to explore better ways to communicate and enforce the closure.  

Summer 2022
As the final planter work in 2021 ran until the end of December, the final installation of plant material and trees was not possible to complete until the summer of 2022.

Summer 2021
The majority of the streetscaping work was completed from June to December 2021. Which included widening the sidewalks, the addition of pavers, undergrounding all of the wirings, and adding planters and seating.

March 2021- Streetscaping project
The Spring Garden Road Streetscaping project has hit a significant milestone with the tender release for construction. The tender was released on March 8, 2021, and closed on March 30, 2021. Three bids were received.

November 2020 - Construction Changes 
Construction of a new traffic signal at Sackville Street and Dresden Row has been completed. To improve traffic circulation in the area and increase loading and parking space on the side streets, parts of Dresden Row and Birmingham Street have become one-way:

  • Dresden Row will be northbound, between Clyde Street and Artillery Place, but will remain two-way between Artillery Place and Sackville Street.
  • Birmingham Street will be southbound between Clyde Street and Artillery Place.

Accompanying these one-way changes is a temporary pilot project at the irregular intersection of Artillery Place, Queen Street, and Birmingham Street. This project tests out a new intersection design to improve the safety of this intersection.

View an information handout showing the changes coming to the intersections and the one-way streets.  

Learn more about this and other Street Improvement Pilot projects in the municipality.

Detailed Design and Construction Documents – Fall 2019 to Winter 2020/21

WSP has been hired as the engineering firm to complete the detailed design and construction drawings for the preferred schematic design option alongside Metz & Chew, who were selected as part of the team to develop the public art component.

Schematic Design – Spring and Summer 2019

Building on the selected functional design, two options for the schematic design were developed, the Pocket Park and the Paver Promenade options. There was an overwhelming preference for the Pocket Park design. However, people liked the open space found with the Paver Promenade design. So, we've created a hybrid design with a combination of vegetation and more open public spaces. In that process, we considered:

  • Reduction of linear planting beds to create more flow through on the street. Increase in rain garden vegetation to help with stormwater mitigation. Raised curbs around the planting areas to discourage pedestrians from walking through the beds.
  • Addition of flexible and moveable bright-coloured seating – including different types of seating and benches with backs and armrests.
  • Public art component and allow for special event flexibility.

A summary of all documentation created to date can be found on the documents page. Want to check out the final design? View the online photo gallery or video.

Functional Design – Fall 2018 to Spring 2019

Following extensive public engagement (more information included in Key Dates), Council approved the Spring Garden Road Functional Design Report on April 16, 2019. This report included two recommendations on how to proceed:

  1. Design and construct Option 4, streetscaping improvements between South Park Street and Queen Street.
  2. Collect data during construction and come back to Regional Council with a recommendation on loading, traffic diversion and a daytime transit priority corridor.

Stoplet Pilot Project - Summer 2018 + Summer 2019

In partnership with the Spring Garden Area Business Association, we installed a temporary stoplet on Spring Garden Road. Stoplet = bus stop + mini-park

This temporary project added more space and amenities to the sidewalk and improved the comfort of pedestrians and transit passengers. We tested ideas and recorded citizen feedback to help us understand the vision for the street that the public wanted to see.