Active Transportation

At Halifax Harbour Bridges, we’re about providing safe crossing for more than just vehicles across the harbour.

The Macdonald Bridge features a sidewalk and dedicated bicycle lane to promote active transportation between Halifax and Dartmouth. The sidewalk is located on the south side of the bridge and the bicycle lane is on the north side. Both lanes are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and free of charge.

Using the sidewalk

The lane on the south side of the bridge is dedicated for pedestrians. People using skateboards or roller blades must carry their roller blades and skateboards and walk across. Cyclists using the sidewalk must walk their bikes.

Using the bike lane

The speed limit on the bike lane is 25 km/h, which applies e-bikes and e-scooters, in addition to bicycles.

The safety of all bridge users is HHB’s top priority, and therefore we follow the Nova Scotia Motor Vehicle Act when it comes to allowing motorized vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters to use the bike lane:

Provided the vehicle on the bike lane has an independent steering and braking system and is not required to be registered under the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA)
Users must follow the posted speeds
Any vehicle that is required to be registered under the MVA must cross the bridge through using the tolls

Emergency Phones

Emergency phones are located along both the sidewalk and the bicycle lane. These connect directly to the HHB operations centre located on the Dartmouth side of the Macdonald Bridge and should be used if you need assistance or if you see someone who may need assistance.

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Fun Fact

A recent study suggests that during the winter, Canadians idle their vehicles for a combined total of more than 75 million minutes a day, the same as one vehicle idling for 144 years. If every driver of a light-duty vehicle in Canada avoided idling for just five minutes we would save 1.9 million litres of fuel worth more than $3.5 million.