District 13 Councillor Pam Lovelace wants to tackle traffic and safety concerns on Hammonds Plains Road.

During a North West Community Council meeting on Monday, Lovelace asked for a staff report from the Chief Administrative Officer to help figure out the steps needed to develop a functional plan for Hammonds Plains Road.

The motion asked that the report should include eight points on current restrictions and developments that are adding to the traffic on the road. 

Lovelace is looking to learn how the bylaw, Schedule J, can be lifted in order to create new connector roads between subdivisions, improve stormwater infrastructure, modernize intersections and install turn lands for transit and traffic flow. Schedule J is part of the Regional Subdivision By-Law that imposes growth control mechanisms. 

Schedule J's growth restrictions have contributed to the long-standing traffic issues on Hammonds Plains Road. She says the time for improvements is now since Halifax took over ownership of the road from the province last summer. 

Lovelace also brought up concerns around traffic on the road after evacuations during the wildfires caused a bottlenecking on Hammonds Plains Road since its the only main exit for many subdivisions in the area. Other than safety concerns, Lovelace says it also sees daily rush-hour traffic because of this.

Another reason for the increase in traffic, Lovelace says, is due to apps like Google Maps directing people to take Hammonds Plains Road instead of Highway 103 when going to areas such as Bridgewater. 

Hammonds Plains Road also has “significant deficiencies from an infrastructure perspective,” Lovelace says. She noted the development on Sandy Lake becoming a special planning area for the city and the decommissioning of Uplands Park Wastewater Treatment Facility, which will see the roadway where the pipes are be ripped up, will both cause more traffic and issues on Hammonds Plains Road. 

“All of this has been growing and getting worse because of the immense development that’s happening in district 13,” Lovelace says. “Now's the time to bring all those pieces and all that work that is happening in silos and bring it altogether to get a functional plan in place."

Listen to the story below: