Halifax Council has given the green light for the redevelopment of the Windsor Street Exchange, backtracking on scrapping the redesign.

The decision made on Tuesday means the municipality will go ahead with the original plan first presented in January, only this time there will be a second phase.

It includes widening the roadway to make way for rapid transit lanes as well as walking and bike paths.

In addition, a new bill tabled in the legislature that would give the province power over transit and transportation has created a sense of urgency to reverse course.

“We didn’t have this the last time we discussed this matter”, said Councillor David Hendsbee. “But here we are now looking down the smoking barrel of a gun if we don’t approve this project. We are going to be told to do it anyway.”

Councillor Patty Cuttell was very supportive of the motion and reminded city staff that they are not starting with a blank slate when creating the design.

“We’re living in a city that’s hundreds of years old, working with some very tight constraints and trying to come up with solutions to make things better, while addressing many different agendas and many different needs in the city.”

Cuttell noted the port, transit and growing congestion as high priorities.

The bottleneck interchange has been a point of frustration with many residents calling for council to address high volumes of traffic.

The total cost of the project has ballooned quite a bit to $150 million however that cost will be split between the federal and provincial governments, Halifax Water and the city.

HRM is now on the hook for more than $50 million but staff hope to get more funding through other programs to bring that down a bit.

Roughly 117,000 people travel through the Windsor Street Exchange every day.