Snow can be a frustrating hassle, especially when it needs to be cleared. But have you ever considered that snowy streets could shed light on better city planning?
Sneckdown Halifax, which you can find on social media and a Tumblr page curated by Halifax resident Ben Wedge, points out “sneckdowns” across the city in an effort to get people talking about how streets could better accommodate more modes of transportation.
Sneckdown is a play on the urban planning term neckdown, which is a curb extension aimed at calming traffic. Usually they feature widened sidewalks, which could accommodate trees, benches and other things.
READ MORE: Halifax councillor looks to improve snow clearing with accessibility in mind
A “sneckdown” is seen when snow left after street cleaning replicates those extensions, highlighting sections of roads that may be wider than vehicles need.
Wedge started drawing attention to sneckdowns in Halifax last winter, but he’s ramping up awareness this winter with the help of Twitter and Facebook profiles.
“I think there’s a lot of conversation around the city where people say our streets are too narrow, and that there’s no room for bike lanes, or if we make the sidewalks wider we’ll slow down traffic,” he said.
“Maybe that’s true in some specific instances, but by showing people sneckdowns, it’s a chance to really change that conversation and acknowledge that, in many cases, our streets are bigger than they need to be.”
What could curb extensions be used for in Halifax?
The space highlighted by sneckdowns around the city could be used for a variety of things, Wedge says, including wider sidewalks, more bike lanes, more benches and more outdoor seating space at restaurants and coffee shops.
“Many of our sidewalks are narrow and many of our public spaces are small because we’ve given over way too much to cars and now you can look at the snow and see that the cars aren’t actually using all the space we gave them,” Wedge said.
Wedge said sneckdowns are more common in areas that are further from the downtown core, where roads were designed similar to highway standards. Wedge says roads in suburban areas were designed straight and wide, forgiving drivers who may swerve, preventing them from hitting anything.
READ MORE: Halifax snow clearing getting better for people with accessibility needs: advocate
There are many sneckdowns in the city, though, specifically in areas where some downtown streets were converted into one-way streets, like George, Hollis and Lower Water streets.
What would happen to all the snow?
So the city widens the sidewalks or adds more bike lanes … but what does that mean for the snow that’s now making up these sneckdowns?
Wedge says in the case of widening a sidewalk, that would typically feature adding a “furnishing zone,” such as large flower planters, benches or street trees, where snow can be piled, while keeping benches clear for weary walkers.
He added that widening sidewalks would also not be done to the absolute minimum road width.
However, turning sneckdowns into actual permanent neckdowns would also mean a change in the way the city does snow clearing, something Wedge says is relatively new to Halifax.
“They’ve only really been doing it since that really nasty winter we had a couple years ago, and we’re still not doing it nearly as much as a lot of our peers, we typically just push the snow off to the side,” Wedge said.
“I think it’s a really bad use of space to plan for these piles of snow when in Halifax, it’s very rare that our snow piles up for a long time.
“If we designed our streets for something that happens a few times a year, then we’re designing our streets wrong. The normal day in Halifax we have no snow on the ground.”
City is implementing change already
Wedge says that while several sneckdowns can be seen after each significant snowfall, the city is already making strides toward changing the engineering of Halifax streets.
The sidewalk in front of the new Halifax Central Library was widened, and areas like Young and Isleville streets, Windmill Road, and Cogswell Street and Devonshire Avenue have seen median changes, intersection adjustments and other changes to calm traffic and better accommodate other modes of transportation.
Adding neckdowns with street trees and other sidewalk features would slow the amount of water going into the drain system. It would also reduce the stormwater tax that Halifax residents pay, as they’re charged based on impervious road surface.
READ MORE: Halifax council defers final decision on stormwater fees
“This is already sort of in the hand-book at city hall, but I think this is more a chance to educate the public and help promote this idea that we can take some space away without wreaking havoc on the traffic situation in the city,” Wedge said.
Have you seen any sneckdowns around the Halifax area?
If you have, Wedge is hoping you’ll snap pictures of them and send them in so he can share sneckdown snapshots from across the city.
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