Halifax councillors caught off guard by mayor’s bike lane pushback
Regional councillors in Halifax say they were blindsided by the mayor’s decision to bring a motion forward asking for a pause on all future bike lane construction.
Mayor Andy Fillmore has indicated in a memo to council that he’s looking to put a pause on future bike lane development until a staff report on road congestion can be completed. The matter will be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.
Coun. Sam Austin says the news came as a surprise.
“I mean, this is not a small thing the mayor is proposing,” he said.
“This isn’t a, ‘Well, let’s go look at this question and bring back a report.’ It’s to stop work that’s literally planned that we voted on in our budget just two months ago now. So that’s pretty significant.”
Coun. Kathryn Morse takes issue with the idea that cyclists and biking infrastructure are causing congestion in the city.
“We certainly have congestion issues. We shouldn’t be blaming that on cyclists and other people who are using alternatives to private cars,” she said.
She added that pausing the project won’t ease the burden of building cycling infrastructure.
“All of our infrastructure costs have gone way up in the last few years. Everything — playgrounds, roads, anything that we’re building — is now almost twice as expensive as it was five years ago, so it’s the cost of delay,” she said.
Meanwhile, Coun. Shawn Cleary says he’s concerned that if the motion passes, it will be a step backwards for active transportation in Halifax — not just for cycling, but also rapid transit.
“My fear is that the mayor’s going to try and remove that next because that also takes up some roadway space from certain vehicles in certain times in certain places,” he said.
All three councillors say they have been inundated with emails and calls from constituents expressing their concerns with the motion.
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