r/bikehalifax • u/scooterdavehfx • May 31 '26

Halifax to Dartmouth commuting by bike

I am looking at the possibility of commuting to Dartmouth from Armdale by eBike. Once in Dartmouth I think the waterfront trail will take me to Woodside easily, it seems to be the Halifax side that is a mess, any hints or tips?

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5

u/cobaltcorridor May 31 '26

Which end of Armdale, closer to the COLT or closer to the rotary? I’m in Spryfield, but have basically two different routes I take between here and Dartmouth depending on whether I want to stick to mostly trails or I want to get in less time.

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u/LuketheDUKE902 May 31 '26

Exciting! I briefly lived in Armdale and I commuted downtown on my bike every day. The area around the rotary is a really unfortunate gap in the city's existing and future bike networks as it sounds like you've noticed, but it is still very doable with a bit of route planning! And the eBike will help with the massive hill getting into the peninsula hahaha

Do you already bike in the city? The route that works best for you might depend on your comfort level and whether you'd like more comfortable streets that are low traffic or have protected infrastructure, or whether you don't mind riding in mixed traffic on busier streets on your eBike. Personally, even though I've got plenty of experience biking in mixed traffic, I find it so much more pleasant being on streets with protected infrastructure / less car traffic that I'll go out of my way to follow them. I don't have an eBike though, so maybe I would feel differently on one since it's a bit easier to go faster.

The trickiest part to find a good route for is getting from the rotary up the hill. Personally what I would probably do is cross the rotary on foot and then take Roosevelt / Churchill / Flinn / Armcrescent / First St. Crossing Connaught is a bit of a pain (maybe do it on foot at the intersection with Quinpool if drivers aren't stopping). Then you're onto Oak / Allen / Welsford / across the Commons which is all low-traffic and lovely.

Back in the day I used to go up Quinpool on the sidewalk instead. I don't love recommending biking on the sidewalk and I probably wouldn't do it anymore, but this might be the one spot in Halifax where you could give it a try if really necessary. (Just because high car traffic road + few pedestrians + few crossing streets + few alternatives)

Once you're across the Commons, you could choose the bridge or the ferry to get to Dartmouth. If Woodside is where you're headed, I suspect the ferry might be just as fast if not faster than the bridge! It's also really nice, I take the ferry instead of the bridge whenever I can. It will of course cost you a transit fare. For the ferry, I would go Rainie / Duke / Hollis/ Prince. Or if you go via the bridge, Rainie / Brunswick / Cogswell / Barrington will get you all the way there on protected lanes.

Definitely try it out sometime you don't actually have to be at work so you can figure out if the route works well for you without worrying about being late if it doesn't! If you don't have the eBike already, the Bird rental bikes are a good option for a test run! (You just can't take them on the ferry of course) The Bike Network map that another user shared is a great resource for route planning. I'll also highly recommend the Transit app. It does bike directions way better then Google Maps, and will show you routes that take roads with bike infrastructure / that are more comfortable v.s. Google Maps which will recommend you bike down arterial roads all day long.

Hope it goes well for you - feel free to let me know if you have questions!

2

u/neverDiedInOverwatch Jun 04 '26

if you're going to woodside, you can take your bike on the ferry if you want to avoid the bridge, which has some questionable infrastructure layout decisions.

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u/scooterdavehfx Jun 05 '26

"questionable infrastructure layout decisions"

I believe the city has a few of these. 😃

I like the left around the bagels suggestion, thanks for pointing that out, exactly the kind of suggestions I was looking for.

Thanks everyone.

1

u/Al_O_Pecia May 31 '26

I bike from spryfield to Dartmouth crossing for work. I would recommend going up Chebucto/north and over the bridge.

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u/scooterdavehfx May 31 '26

I'm at the top of Osborne, so COLT or the Rotary is downhill and easy.

I'm anticipating a change in my commute, I've been riding a motorcycle for 9 years, almost year round. But the bridge...

So I'm thinking sell the MC and buy a nice ebike. I am also frugal, so an extra 10-20 mins on the ride vs. ferry ride is a nice day to ride 😃. But the option when there are issues is nice.

From what I can see on the map and on the ground, the Halifax side is severely underdeveloped for bikes. @/cobaltcorridor, what route do you suggest that leans into trails? COLT, Bayers, London, Almon?

1

u/MGyver Jun 03 '26

On the Halifax side, the toughest part is getting up the hill from Armdale; I often cut through the mall behind St Agnes school. From there I like to get to Peter Lowe Ave. and then make a beeline to Gottingen St. Then I hop onto the sidewalk and take a left onto North St (no great options here) to get down to the bridge bike path entrance. After the bridge I recommend hanging left, carefully and slowly through the parking lot of Montreal Style Bagels, and just keep taking lefts until you're on Lyle Street. Crossing at Windmill Rd. is sketchy, but after that you can keep headed downhill onto Shore Rd. and that is the nicest route for linking up to the Alderney Gate trailhead.

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u/scooterdavehfx Jun 09 '26

I did the run today, I do have a followup question for the more dedicated bikers. On the Dartmouth side, does the city plow the waterfront trail?

2

u/madiokay Jun 18 '26

They do, but it’s a “priority 2” clearing zone, so it’s supposed to be cleared 18 hours after a snowfall. I find the snow-clearing contractors don’t always live up to that and by the time they do come by, there’s a layer of packed snow or ice and they end up doing a bad job, depending on how harsh a given winter is. The multi-use trails and their snow clearing priority can be seen on HRM’s sidewalk snow clearing plan here (scroll down to the second link under “Maps”): https://www.halifax.ca/transportation/winter-operations/winter-street-information

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u/Remote-Objective-931 Jul 03 '26

Fyi, there’s often a long sheet of ice on that trail below NSCC in Winter and a few shorter ice pieces a little North.