A long-awaited project to add a Bedford ferry connection to the Halifax Transit system is expected to be completed in the 2027-28 fiscal year, officials announced Monday.
In a release, the province said all three levels of government are making a joint investment to build the Mill Cove Ferry Service, which will include five electric ferries, two net-zero terminals, and a maintenance facility. The new service will transport people between Mill Cove and downtown Halifax.
One of the terminals will replace the aging terminal in Halifax, while the other will be newly built in Mill Cove. A bridge will also be built over the CN rail line in Bedford to connect buses, cars, pedestrians and cyclists to the new Mill Cove terminal.
The federal government is investing $155.7 million in the project, while the province is contributing $65 million. Halifax Regional Municipality will also pitch in more than $38 million.
During an announcement at the Bedford Basin Yacht Club Monday morning, Lena Metlege Diab, member of parliament for Halifax West, acknowledged the rapid growth in Halifax over the last few years.
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“Our beautiful city’s growing, and it’s growing fast,” she said. “It’s a blessing economically, and for our public services, it poses challenges too.”
One of those challenges, she noted, is traffic congestion — which anyone who regularly commutes along the Bedford Highway, Hammonds Plains Road, and the Bicentennial Highway would know.
“Our infrastructure has to keep up,” Metlege Diab said. “It’s vital that we connect Canadians and get them to and from work, school, and home more efficiently.”
Nova Scotia Environment Minister Tim Halman said the new net-zero terminals and electric ferries will help the province meet its transportation goals laid out in its climate change plan.
He said the Bedford ferry is “only the beginning” and the government is looking at eventually adding additional ferry routes in Shannon Park and Larry Uteck. There are not yet any dates for further announcements on those plans.
Bedford councillor, Tim Outhit, said he was excited to finally see the long-awaited Bedford ferry plan move forward.
“No more studies, no more plans, no more market studies, no more consultation, no more funding debates. This is happening,” he said. “This is just the beginning of many initiatives that will transform how we travel in HRM, but also where we grow.”
There are currently two other Halifax Transit ferry routes, connecting the Halifax ferry terminal to the Alderney and Woodside terminals across the harbour in Dartmouth.
Nearly three years ago, all three levels of government announced they would be funding a $3.3 million study to look at concept design for a new terminal building, site access and site design.
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