Houses come down in advance of 'challenging' Bayers Road widening

Four houses along Bayers Road in Halifax are being demolished to allow for the widening ofone of the city's main traffic arteries.

Butit could be some time before road construction gets underway as crucial designdetails are still being worked out.

"Bayers Road is challenging," says Coun. Shawn Cleary, who represents HalifaxWest Armdale.

"We need to deal with the intersection to the entrance of the [Halifax Shopping Centre]."

He said the municipality is still in negotiations with the Halifax Shopping Centre about that issue, which includes a proposal by Halifax Transit to build a new Mumford bus terminalon land owned by the mall.

The Bayers Road widening project, approved in principle in February 2018, is expected to take place in threephases:

• the section between Romans Avenue to the shopping centreentrance.
• from the shopping centre entrance to Connaught Avenue.
• from ConnaughtAvenue to Windsor Street.

A tender to demolish the four houseswas awarded to Starfish Demolition in February for $268,000.

The municipality purchased the properties over several years in anticipation of widening Bayers Road, one of the main traffic corridors for entering and exiting Halifax.

"It was cheaper to [demolish] them all at once and prepare the landthan one at a time,"Clearysaid.

The Bayers Road project includes two bus-only lanes and a sidewalk on one side and a bikeway on the other side.

Municipal officials hope toconnect the bikeway to the Urban Greenway bike path along the rail cut and the Chain of Lakes trail at some point.

The total cost of the widening project is estimated to be $15.9 million. Fundingfor the engineering design work is contained in the2019-2020 municipal budget.

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