A Review of Halifax Bicycle Commutes no.1: the Barrington AT Greenway
It's my intention to ride the main routes into/out of Halifax over the next few weeks and outline how hard (or easy) it is to commute by bicycle in this city — with details as distance, topography and safety. Also I'd like to show some of the best sights along the way.
I've been riding as my main method of transportation in Halifax for about 10 years, though I also regularly take the bus, walk, drive and take taxis depending on the circumstances.
While I'd like to concentrate on medium-distance routes like Bedford-Halifax, I thought I'd start with a review of the only protected bike lane on the whole peninsula, a beautiful, 800 metre stub of a bicycle track adjacent to Barrington Street North: the Barrington AT Greenway.
Location: 800m long. The north end is down the hill from the MacDonald Bridge at North St., while the southern end is at Cornwallis St. The whole AT trail runs parallel to Barrington St., a 4-lane highway on the northeast side of the street.
Condition: It was covered with fresh grass clippings when I was there, but other than that, this multi-use track is pristine. The asphalt is fresh, smooth and fast. There is not a single pothole or crack.
Infrastructure: Well done. Wood fences line the hill side of the track. Trees and plants are on both sides. You're next to one of the busiest roads on the peninsula, but I think you'd feel both safe and pleased riding here. The track is bidirectional, divided by a standard yellow centreline.
Topography: Slight downhill when southbound. Very cycle-friendly.
Signage: See below: it's bad. A saddening fusion of inadequate with unwelcoming, the city emphasizes the closing time instead of encouraging use at all other times.
This is a road for bikes and pedestrians, not a park; why should it close at 10pm? Does Barrington St. also close between 10pm and 5am?
Use: Shared active transportation: walking, jogging, cycling, skateboarding, etc. I think very few people know this path exists; between 10 and 10:30am, I passed a single jogger. One couple crossed over the greenway to get to CFB Stadacona, but did not use the greenway itself.
Connections: The AT connector is theoretically a great resource: it begins below the Macdonald Bridge and heads south into downtown - so it could be the main bicycle corridor for cyclists originating in Dartmouth as well as many parts of the Old North End. Density just west of this greenway is high for Halifax - plenty of modern apartment buildings line the edge of the Old North End.
However, safe cycling connections onto this greenway are non-existent.
Let's start from the northernmost point. Coming downhill from the Macdonald bridge bikeway, you would have ride onto the sidewalk, and cross the street as a pedestrian to get to this path.
There is no wayfinding signage at the bottom of the bridge to give cyclists a sense that this off-street path exists, or that it is a suggested route into downtown - so I suspect many cyclists opt to go back up the steep North St. hill to take Gottingen St. into downtown, even though it is a lot more work, and less nice than this route.
At the south end of this path, where the Cogswell Interchange begins, this path stops abruptly at the sidewalk with no further indication of a route into the heart of the city. Here's the official end of the greenway, including 10m or so of illegal riding on the sidewalk:
You would have to ride 700m in often heavy traffic to go any further south, via:
Barrington St. (4-lane highway)
Hollis St. (the main truck route)
Upper Water St. (a 2 way street for only a few blocks)
One could head past the Casino onto the waterfront trail, but I'd suggest the mix of slow-walking tourists and cyclists is a bad one for both parties. The waterfront trail is not intended for wheeled transportation; it is a wonderful place to walk and a terrible place to ride a bicycle.
Once the Cogswell Interchange is brought down (the stub of a highway that was never built), and a fine grained street structure is restored here, one hopes a protected bicycle track will be planned to connect the south end of this greenway to downtown.
The city has promised to add an unprotected southbound bike lane on Hollis St. this summer, but begins several blocks south. This would improve connections through downtown and into the rapidly expanding Seaport district where the Seaport Market is as well as NSCAD University.
For the moment, it's not clear what was intended for southbound cyclists leaving the greenway: there is no path into downtown without mixing in often heavy traffic.
Northbound, it's the same problem. At the southern end, this greenway doesn't connect well with anything else, including the unprotected bike lane on Lower Water St. At the northern end, there is no wayfinding information indicating what is nearby and in what direction, and a cyclist would probably be required to dismount and walk to get anywhere further. Continuing north of the greenway, along Barrington St, would require mixing in 4-lane traffic on the main truck route out of the city. I suspect most cyclists would [wisely] opt to climb the steep hill up North Street to go anywhere else.
Mid-greenway connections for cyclists do not exist at present, but there are a few which are useful for pedestrians: crosswalks at Cornwallis St., Gerrish Lane, and at the Macdonald Bridge allow pedestrians to access the greenway at a few different points.
What's along the way: At the south end is Halifax's spartan Halifax Wastewater Treatment Facility and Casino Nova Scotia. Downtown Halifax is only 700m further south.
For most of the route, you are riding on a steep hill above Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Dockyards. There are no sanctioned connections into the dockyards from the greenway, but there are several walkable dirt paths down the hill. The 2 main entrances to CFB Dockyards are at either end of the greenway, so it's not likely any of the dockyard employees would ever use this track to get to/from work.
There are plenty of great eastern views going in either direction: the harbour, the Macdonald Bridge, and downtown Dartmouth.
Other amenities: Several decent interpretation panels describe the Halifax's waterfront long history of industrial and military use. 2 sets of benches are in place - take a break and eat a sandwich.
Seasonal use: Is this cleared and de-iced in Winter? I suspect it is. Update to come in January?
Conclusion: When people speak of the great cycling infrastructure in Ottawa, it's exactly this kind of off-street cycling path of which people wax fondly. The Barrington St. AT Greenway is convenient, pleasant and safe - being completely separate from traffic. Unfortunately, this particular track doesn't exactly come from anywhere, and it doesn't exactly go anywhere, which is, I expect, why there are so few people using it currently.
In the short term, the city would do well to encourage use by replacing the horrific Peter Kelly-era signage with something inviting and useful - including wayfinding information. Why would I use this greenway? Where does it go? And By-Law P-600 can go to hell: mobility doesn't shut down between 10pm and 5am.
In the medium term, this greenway needs to be connected to something other than itself. I'd like to see this meet up with a wider safe cycling network including:
the Macdonald Bridge bikeway
the Cogswell Interchange redesign (about 5 years out)
the new Hollis St. bike lane (southbound)
the incomplete Water St. bike lane (northbound)
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