It is still a little unclear as to what crossing the harbour bridges will look like in just shy of two months, when you no longer have to pay to go over the bridge.
The Houston government made good on its election promise with a plan to get rid of the toll booths as of April 1st, when the provincial budget was announced, Tuesday.
Stephen Proctor with Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB) tells our newsroom details still need to be ironed out.
“We know it’s going to look somewhat different because you can’t go from a number of lanes…you want to make it three lanes for flow of traffic. You’re going to get rid of the MACPASS lanes. You’re going to get rid of the toll lanes.”
Proctor says they are in constant conversations with Public Works on a design and as of right now, there is no specific timeline of when the toll booths will actually be coming down.
Job losses
The bridge commission will become a new Crown corporation with the toll booths gone, becoming more of a reporting entity, Proctor says.
He tells us, commuters won’t notice any difference, but employees could with the possibility of some job losses, especially when the MACPASS is eliminated.
“There’s 50…65 people who work for HHB altogether. The changes would impact all across the organization because people who do the maintenance on the tolls and up and down, they’re being reassigned to other things. There’s lots in terms of electrical. It’s not just MACPASS. It’s had an impact across the entire organization and we’re trying to minimize whatever the loss is.”
Proctor says they are working on a system to get money back to anyone who has a balance on a MACPASS, expected sometime after April 8.
Uncertainty
Despite the fact that crossing the harbour is about to be free, not everyone is sold on the concept.
According to chatter on social media, some residents are hesitant about the move and have questions on things like money for maintenance and a possible increase in traffic flow and collisions.
The province is providing $83 million next year to cover maintenance costs and Proctor says, they will continue to request for government funds.
As for increased traffic, Proctor says it’s the toll booths that typically cause any jams.
“The toll plazas are a natural bottleneck. They sort of, streamline traffic. In many cases the problem isn’t actually the bridge but it’s the points on either side of the bridge.”
He adds, they are hoping to keep traffic flow as much as possible and information on the alignment will be released when they know more closer to April.
“Please be careful as you’re coming to the toll plazas, as it will be realigned differently. Safety is the heart of HHB, so we want to be safe for the drivers.”
