'Bit of a mess': Construction, population growth causing traffic tie-ups in Halifax

Getting around Halifax can be a challenge, especially during rush hour.

“Currently, it’s a bit of a mess,” said Ashton Pilgrim. “For those of us who need to drive over every once in a while, I typically take the ferry, but when I do need to drive over, it’s a big deterrent.”

Construction around the Cogswell District is adding another hurdle.

“We’re in the military, so we only have the one entrance and exit that we can use, so it’s always backed up and it takes a while to get out of the dockyard,” said Clifford Gallagher.

Construction on the Cogswell project is expected to be complete in December 2025.

Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) said September is always a busy month for traffic with the return to school and the end of the vacation season.

“We tend to see things improve as people establish new routines, be it how or when people move around,” said a spokesperson in an email to CTV News. “With unprecedented growth over the past few years, we can expect that more residents will mean more people moving about the region. This will inevitably result in more cars on the road and more people on buses, bikes, walking, etc.”

Gallagher believes there could be ways to improve traffic flow around Halifax in the meantime.

“They should maybe change the hours of construction to go maybe at night so that it doesn’t bog down traffic all that much because if they do something around here and they have to close a lane or something that backs traffic up so far,” he said.

HRM said night work is one tool it uses to alleviate disruptions to commuters who work traditional hours, but noted it’s not always appropriate for all construction projects.

“We try to balance the disruption to the transportation network with the quality of life considerations of those who live adjacent to the work site. This is why we have the noise by-law, and consider using the exceptions clauses very carefully,” said the spokesperson.

Pedestrians are also noticing the traffic. Dianna Boutilier said it’s becoming more dangerous to cross at the Armdale Roundabout.

“People have no respect for people walking in the crosswalks and I’m very disturbed by it,” she said.

Improving traffic flow on bridges

As for those getting to Halifax by crossing one of the two bridges, Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB) said there has not been an uptick in traffic beyond what is seen in a normal year.

“Every year the traffic has grown a little bit since COVID,” said Steve Proctor with HHB. “We’re at 2019 levels, which is great in terms of the traffic and it is an indicator of the health of the economy as well.”

He noted there have been increased traffic enforcement measures to ease congestion this year.

“It doesn’t create any extra traffic, and in fact, it’s an attempt to improve the flow of traffic on the MacKay Bridge specifically,” said Proctor. “We’ve issued more tickets for speeding, for distracted driving. We’re chasing down the people who go through a lane to try and piggyback onto other people or people who try and break the arm… That improves the flow because we’re pulling the people off to the side.”

He said in January about 20 tickets were issued and as enforcement has ramped up around 100 are now typically being handed out.

“We were hearing from people that they were concerned about driving across the bridge because there were people speeding by them.”

Proctor said another reason for the increased enforcement was due to lost toll revenues.

There may be extra congestion on the MacKay Bridge this weekend as the Macdonald shuts down so crews can replace one of the original bearings and complete other work. The closure is scheduled to last from Friday at 7 p.m. until Monday at 5:30 a.m.

Proctor said that is expected to be the last full-weekend closure of the year. He said there will likely be a few small closures, though.

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