houston government justified in fixing bad municipal traffic decisions, nova scotia minister says
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public works minister fred tilley says provincial legislation is one tool the government can use to override municipal decisions that curb the flow of traffic.
francis campbell
/
the chronicle herald
the province is “absolutely” justified in directing and managing traffic on a municipal street, says nova scotia’s public works minister.
“the province has a responsibility to fix traffic and anything that is going to hamper the fixing of traffic and reducing that level is something that is absolutely in the purview of the province,” fred tilley told reporters thursday.
“this is a concern with increasing the congestion in hrm,” tilley said. “the premier has been very clear on the issue.”
premier tim houston delivered that clear message in an open letter more than two weeks ago directed to halifax mayor andy fillmore, halifax regional council and cao cathie o’toole.
“if hrm council proceeds to make morris a one-way street, the provincial government will be forced to act,” houston wrote in the letter.
“eliminating one lane to add bike lanes will contribute to traffic congestion, create unnecessary public safety risks and potentially jeopardize port activity,” he wrote.
the premier referenced a letter from emergency medical care (emc) that voiced concerns about the effect changing morris street traffic could have on providing emergency services in the area.
a late-night debate three weeks ago saw regional councillors vote 13-4 to go with the original design for a bikeway that would turn the busy downtown street into a one-way road with a two-direction bikeway despite a request by fillmore for staff to dig deeper into alternative proposals that would keep two-way traffic.
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houston reminded the mayor and council in his letter that the government had passed bill 24 in the spring session of the legislature.
the recently proclaimed bill provides the provincial government with sweeping powers over transportation and transit decisions that include doing anything necessary to ensure the smooth movement of people and goods.
those powers would include the power of the public works minister to order a municipality to build or remove infrastructure.
“if hrm council proceeds to make morris a one-way street, the provincial government will be forced to act,” houston wrote in his letter, a reference to using the bill 24 provision.
“i remain hopeful that common sense will prevail and council will reverse this decision,” he said. “please advise by wednesday, aug. 6, if council is prepared to do this.”
council is scheduled to meet aug. 5.
tilley on thursday reiterated the premier’s statement.
vehicles pass down morris street in between hollis and queen streets on july 9.
ryan taplin
/
the chronicle herald
“the council has a meeting coming up to discuss morris street, we hope they make a common sense decision,” tilley said.
the minister said the use of bill 24 will be issue-specific when it comes to bike lanes or any other issues in which the law will be used by the province to override a municipal decision.
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“anything that is implemented that is not in the best interests of hrm, not in the best interests of improving traffic flow in hrm would be seriously looked at,” tilley said, adding that the department is not reviewing any other hrm decisions at the present time.
“strategically looking at at (active transportation), all forms of at, looking at the different areas, anything that can be done to improve the flow of traffic is something we are interested in.”
tilley said if a motion passed by halifax regional council is impeding traffic, bill 24 “would be one tool in the toolkit” for the province to deal with it.
“bill 24 is not something we expect to use very often, it’s about conversation with the different municipalities and it’s about coming up with common sense solutions to implement to fix traffic.
“bill 24 is in place, so at the end of the day if there is an issue that causes problems with traffic, it would be one tool in the toolkit that would be available to use.”
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