Destination Reeves Street.
A Legacy Project for Our Town.
Destination Reeves Street is the first “Complete Street” Initiative in Nova Scotia - we will continue to punch above our weight class, and be a leader in progress in our Province.
The Complete Street approach requires streets to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation (driving, walking, biking, wheel chair, transit, etc.). This was the foundation that this project was built on. Why?
Reeves Street is for everyone!
Destination Reeves Street beautified, connected, and revitalized our Town’s main street for drivers, businesses, students, pedestrians, all ages, and all mobility levels, so the experience of each and every user of Reeves Street is improved and safer.
“We Can Not Become
What We Want to Be
By Remaining What we are.”
- Max DePree
Some History.
The Town of Port Hawkesbury (approved by the 2012-2016 Council), in partnership with the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce, contracted the services of a planning and design firm to complete a conceptual development plan for Reeves Street. Ekisitcs Planning and Design along with Form Media completed the plan titled “Destination Reeves Street” in April 2015. The plan builds on previous plans and aims to improve the economic development potential of the corridor, encouraging more businesses and additional mixed use developments for residents. It focuses on ways to enhance the character of the street and the developments that front it, encourage façade improvements for existing businesses, improve the safety and functionality of the road network for cars, cyclists and pedestrians and improve the tourism draw potential of Reeves Street and surrounding areas. The foundation of the plan leverages a new movement called “Complete Streets” and it is one of the first Complete Street plans in Atlantic Canada.
Destination Reeves Street is a strategy for improving the street’s potential through renewal and revitalization. It focuses on creating better connections to the waterfront and other signature Town spaces, better and safer integration of the NSCC campus into the town, expanding the network of trails and natural areas in the town and improving the town’s brand and signage to encourage more tourism traffic. This study presents a framework for capitalizing on improvements over time to increase the street’s “destination appeal” for residents, businesses and tourists.
We Know Change isn’t always easy.
The Road Diet “Pilot” is a Modern concept to calm traffic, and offer safer and more efficient function.
Some citizens like it, some are neutral, and some have reservations. At the end of the day - it continues to be a “Pilot” and still under careful evaluation from Nova Scotia Public Works. The Province will have the final decision, however, they will use all the information they have at their disposal to make an informed choice. Also, our Council will ask your opinion with a yes or no question on this year’s election ballot regarding the road diet.
Plebiscite Question: 3 lanes vs 4 lanes?
From October 10th to October 19th you will be able to vote for your Mayor and Council, and you will be able to provide your input on whether you’d like to have Nova Scotia Public Works keep the current configuration (and adjust it to make it even safer) or to have it change back to 4 lanes. There will be a community session to share information ahead of the October 10th advanced voting. (Date to be determined)
Road Diet Pilot.
It is important to outline facts about this pilot. Reeves Street is owned by the Province of Nova Scotia, and managed by Nova Scotia Public Works. The Road diet pilot, including the extensive access management design and implementation, was fully funded by the Province of Nova Scotia. The 1 km road “redesign” – that transitioned from four lanes into one east bound and one west bound lane - with a centre “left-turning” lane – is presently being evaluated to determine “if” it is a suitable solution to remedy the chronic speeding and accidents that have plagued Reeves Street for decades.
The evaluation process will include meeting outcomes from the Reeves Street Advisory Committee made up of Town of Port Hawkesbury Senior staff, elected officials, as well as a group of first responders (including representatives from Emergency Management, Fire Departments, EHS, and RCMP). These meetings have provided NS Public Works Traffic engineers with the opportunity for feedback about what is working well, and what isn’t working. NS Public Works staff continue to collect quantitative data like traffic flow, incidences of speeding, and number and severity of accidents.
Quantitative data can be compared “pre-road diet” to “post-road diet” to determine if the new design is demonstrating improved safety for all the users of Reeves Street. If it is determined that it is NOT the safer design, NS Public Works will convert the road back to its original form at their cost (to confirm: at no cost to the Town of Port Hawkesbury).
I’ve requested some preliminary data from our RCMP detachment to see how the new design is performing thus far, in comparison to the most recent year before the road diet was installed. I asked for data for the number of accidents (including a breakdown of severity of accidents), as well as incidences of speeding.
Pre-Road Pilot Diet Data.
From September 1st, 2018 to August 1st 2019
Accidents (non-reportable, no injuries, damages under $2000.00): 8
Accidents (reportable, no injuries, damages over $2000.00): 19
Accidents (non-fatal injury): 4
Total Accidents: 31 (7 charges)
Speeding: Warnings issued: 114
Speeding: Charges issued: 30
Total Speeding: 144
Post Road Diet Pilot Data.
From September 1st, 2019 to August 1st, 2020 *Includes the 3 month “adjustment” period for drivers to get used to the design.
Accidents (non-reportable, no injuries, damages under $2000.00): 8
Accidents (reportable, no injuries, damages over $2000.00): 16
Accidents (non-fatal injury): 1
Total Accidents: 25 (0 charges)
Speeding: Warnings issued: 21
Speeding: Charges issued: 7
Total Speeding: 28
Note: More Current Data has been requested from both the Province and the RCMP to see how the road reconfiguration continues to compare to pre: September 1st/2019. I will update these stats when I receive them.
The Final Decision on the Road Diet.
Should NS Public Works decide to make the changes permanent, our Town Council will advocate for the list of 14 items the Reeves Street Advisory Committee identified as safety concerns - which include intersection improvements and “protective submissive traffic lights” that allow for a dedicated left-turn and better signaling technology.
It should also be noted that the entirety of Destination Reeves Street – including the Road diet pilot – was unanimously approved by council on February of 2019. There will also be an opportunity for public consultation, as is the procedure of NS Public Works prior to any permanent changes being implemented.
