HALIFAX -- It doesn't take much to snarl traffic on the Halifax Harbour Bridges.

That's why the threat of a climate protest during rush hour on Monday has some commuters already planning alternate routes.

On an average work day, more than 100,000 vehicles cross the bridges connecting Dartmouth and Halifax.

On Monday, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge could be blocked, forcing drivers to make other plans.

"We will be taking the bridges in a number of cities and it's symbolic to the bridge to the future, which we do not have at this moment if drastic action is not taken on the climate," said Kevin Smith of Extinction Rebellion.

This is just one of several demonstrations planned by Extinction Rebellion across the country.

The organization brought cities in the United Kingdom to a standstill with climate action protests earlier this year.

In the Halifax Regional Municipality, the municipality is planning for disruptions.

"Halifax Transit is currently considering detouring some of the buses that would normally take the Macdonald Bridge over to the MacKay," said Halifax Regional Municipality spokeswoman Bryn Langille. "Not all of the buses would be diverted to the MacKay, but the specifics to that are still being worked out at this point."

The municipality is encouraging people to use alternate routes, including the ferry.

While many are frustrated about the impending disruption, some think it's a small price to pay to draw attention to climate change.

"I think that's as good a cause as any to ruin people's days for," said commuter John Berube. "It's no more inconvenient than the construction that we've had on the bridge for a while."

Another commuter, D'Mitri Brown, says "it's definitely going to slow down everybody's morning. It definitely will bring a lot of people to think about climate change though."

Margaret Puszkar says she supports the cause, but isn't keen on the method.

"I'm not sure it's going to get the results that people are looking for," Puszkar said.

But Smith says disrupting routine is what the protest is all about.

"It's not directed at workers or individuals," Smith said. "It is directed at our policy-makers because the only thing they seem to understand is when you disrupt the economic flow of the city."

The event is expected to cause major traffic delays in HRM on Monday morning. Many people are already planning an alternate route or changing their schedules. The Halifax Regional Police say they will be on site Monday morning and that public safety is a top priority.

Patrick Yancey, a Nova Scotia organizer for Extinction Rebellion, said milder tactics have not moved governments to consider rapid change.

"We've tried everything else, but a major economic disruption is the only thing that's going to get our decision-makers to take action in the climate crisis," he said.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said there will be irreversible changes to the global environment if society doesn't take rapid, intense action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Robert Huish, a professor at Dalhousie University's department of International Development Studies, said there is a risk for Extinction Rebellion groups that the public will react negatively to the group's tactics.

He said he expects a different public reaction from the so-called Climate Strike protests that occurred last Friday, when children participated and some business gave employees the day off to march.

"What can occur is the reaction that comes from (the bridge occupation) is not what the group intended," said Huish.

Huish said that when activists occupied the Golden Gate Bridge 1989 to protest government inaction on the HIV and AIDS crisis, there was widespread negative reaction due to the traffic snarl that ensued.

He said it's possible that while the Extinction Rebellion movement is targeting government, it may draw a stronger reaction from individual citizens who are frustrated.

However, acts of civil disobedience -- such as the road occupations and arrests in the U.K. last year -- can eventually be remembered as landmark events, he said, while the irritation of individual commuters is forgotten.

With files from Amy Stoodley and The Canadian Press.