Spring Garden Road reopens to all traffic after months of construction

After months of construction and detours, a large stretch of Halifax's busy Spring Garden Road has reopened.

The Halifax Regional Municipality said in a release that the section between Queen and South Park streets would reopen to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic at 5 p.m. Thursday.

All Halifax Transit routes will come off their detours around this area at the start of the service day on Friday.

The closure, which began in June, was done to allow for road work connected to streetscape improvements on Spring Garden Road.

Upgrades to the busy commercial street have been talked about since 2009. The work includes making it safer for pedestrians to cross the street, creating more green spaces and adding amenities at bus stops.

Three companies submitted bids for the streetscaping work earlier this year, all above the original $10.4 million budget. 

Brycon Construction Limited came in as the lowest bidder with an $11.2 million submission, but a few things were taken off the project plans to bring down the cost to a final price of $10.5 million.

Bus-only project coming soon

However, drivers will only be able to use this section of Spring Garden for a few months before it closes again to allow for a year-long transit pilot project.

Once the project begins in June, buses will be the only vehicles allowed on the section between Queen and South Park streets from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Pedestrians and cyclists will also be permitted during the project.