Rail transit advocate says more highways not the solution to Halifax's traffic woes

Building highways isn't thesolution to thegrowing problem of traffic congestion in and around the Halifax Regional Municipality, says the head of an organization that advocates for rail-based public transit.

Last month, days before a provincial election was called, the Nova Scotiagovernment issued a news release sayingit would begin planning for a "new strategic link" between the busy Hammonds Plains Road and Highway 101. The release also saidincreasing the capacity of Highway 102 and options for light rail were being considered.

Frank Palermo, president of Rail Connects and professor emeritus of planning and architecture at Dalhousie University, told CBC Radio's Information Morningit's important for the government and citizensto see the value in options like light rail for moving a growing population.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What do you make of the government's plan to address traffic congestion by working on the highways around HRM?

I think it's a losing proposition. There's no way that you can build enough highways to keep up with the kind of growth that's going on in HRM and the province as a whole. I think that some highway improvements may be required, but it's not going to solve any traffic problems. The traffic problems in Bedford West aren't the highway connection between those two points ... the traffic problem is on every street in that area. It'sthat we don't have a really adequate way to get the number of people that need to get from where they live to where they work, to where they shop.

And we're not building communities that actually operate that way, that actually are walkable, that have a place for people to not just live, but have a way to get to work. And it seems to me that what the government doesn't seem to be realizing that in fact, we can't continue to build highways and expect to keep up with the growth.

We can't keep building highways that way and expect that we're going to do something about housing. Because housing isn't just a matter of providing more houses;the houses have to be in the right places. The right houses have to make a community, and the houses have to be connected to where people work. Affordability actually means that you shouldn't have to own a car or two in order to be able to get to work.

Information Morning - NS8:51The push for a province-wide light rail transit system

Could a province-wide light rail transit system be the answer to our traffic woes? A citizens' group says yes, and it could help us build more vibrant, walkable communities while reinvigorating our downtowns. Frank Palermo, president of Rail Connects, explains.

If rapid transit combined withaddressing some of the issues with roads, is that moving in the right direction?

I think it's the answer for 10 years ago as opposed to being the answer now.

Why do you say that?

I think that the growth patterns right now are that we're going to get much more population as opposed to basically just dealing with the population that we had and slight growth.

Now we have to accept the growth should be happening everywhere. We actually need to see growth happening in suburban areas in a different way, in rural parts of HRM as well and that has huge benefits, but we're not going todo it by continuing to build the highway system.

Do you see light rail transit working in the city core or more as a solution for linking all of Nova Scotia, including rural areas?

I think it can work in both ways.

How do you make the urban part work?

I think the urban part can work because we actually have enough capacity within the central part of the city to effectively find places to build a system. What we need is a system. Right now, we don't have a real transit system. We can build the system that actually doesn't require every street to be kind of mangled with transit, but the transit would be in very particular areas so that everybody's within a reasonable walking distance of public transit.

But it's the only way to get away from this kind of congestion that happens as everybody kind of flocks into the centre of the city in the morning and tries to leave in the evening.

What do you anticipate as the real objection or barrier to light rail?

There's a very, very strong highway lobby in this province [and]aperception that highways are the way forward. I think that what we need is to change public sentiment and understanding of what light rail could actually do to get public support for it. And I think that the way to do that is to demonstrate to people the difference that it will make in their lives because I think it's a life-changing thing and could actually be the kind of vision that moves Nova Scotia.