No 7-day delay on Chebucto project

The municipality has rejected a last-ditch effort by residents to stop a road-widening project in Halifax.

Opponents of the Chebucto Road plan called for a seven-day moratorium on construction Wednesday, as crews prepared tobegin work.

But the project, which has already been approved by Halifax regional council, will go ahead as planned.

"The contractor's in place," said Deborah Storey, spokeswoman for the Halifax Regional Municipality. "They have tight timelines attached to their contract that they have to meet and to delay for another week would place those timelines in jeopardy."

The plan calls for athird lane to allow for an extra 300 cars every hour, a means of easingtraffic coming off the nearby Armdale roundabout. It has meant buying several homes and a portion of several front yards.

When the work is complete, commuters will be driving onasection ofwhat is now Shawna O'Hearn's front lawn.

Shesaid she'sfighting for her yard, her neighbourhood and sustainable transportation.

"It's summertime," said O'Hearn, who gathered for an early-morning protest Wednesday with about 30 other opponents of the project. "All I see are cyclists and people walking up the street."

The demonstrators held banners and signs, while the Raging Grannies led a sing-a-long of protest songs.

Joe MacDonell, president of the Chebucto Neighbourhood Association,called for a seven-day moratorium of the construction work "for the people."

David McCusker, manager of traffic andtransportation servicesfor the Halifax Regional Municipality, spoke with residents and agreed to meet with them to explain the project.

"There is some limited need for roadway capacity, and this is one of the projects that provides that," he told reporters.