Spring Garden Road will be getting a makeover and the municipality is looking for feedback from residents on possible designs.
In April, Halifax Regional Council approved the Spring Garden Road Functional Design report, which will see the sidewalks expanded and roadways reduced between South Park Street and Queen Street.
“Pedestrians are really the number one mode of transportation on this street,” said Elora Wilkinson, project lead for the municipality.
“Making sure that people can move comfortably and safely along this street was really important.”
READ MORE: Halifax’s Argyle Street nominated for best street transformation
What is left to decide now is how the end result will look.
There are two design options. The first is the Pocket Park design, which focuses on horticulture by bringing in plants and turning the area into a green space.
Then there is the Paver Promenade design, which offers more space, but less greenery.
“For the horticulture side, it’s a little less flexible, we won’t have the ability to move the plantings, the street’s a big parade route, so how that works is one of the considerations,” said Wilkinson.
“The paver element has that flexibility — we can move the planters during parades in different ways — but it doesn’t have that same lushness the pocket park might.”
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Marlene Jewell attended an open house showing off the two designs and says she would prefer to see more greenery in the city, but what matters most to her is accessibility.
“I use a walker so I need to be able to walk without cobblestones,” said Jewell. “I’ve been to Europe many times and they’re awful, so as long as the cobblestones don’t impede the walking area that would be fine.”
WATCH (Jan 10, 2019): Halifax group pushing for more discussions about Spring Garden Road
Others took the opportunity to leave written feedback.
“Where do you bike? It’s a death-trap,” one person wrote.
“Try to avoid loading zone on Spring Garden,” said another.
Wilkenson says the municipality will be taking all feedback into consideration and are asking residents to submit their thoughts on the designs online.
“We’re looking at what elements people like so we think we can pull some elements from both into the final design,” she said.
The final design will be presented in the coming months with construction planned for spring 2021.