If you use Bayers Road to get on or off the peninsula, plan another way in. Starting Wednesday, Oct. 14, the intersection of Bayers Road and Oxford Street will be closed to all traffic, around the clock, until about Wednesday, Nov. 11, according to the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Inbound drivers have already been detouring around this stretch since construction started in August. The difference now is that outbound traffic loses Bayers Road too, so both directions will be pushed onto the same side streets for about four weeks, and full two-way traffic on Bayers isn’t expected back until Dec. 17.

The reason is underground. Crews need to install an upgraded Halifax Water transmission main beneath the intersection, and HRM says that main supplies water to the north end of the Halifax peninsula. The trench will be about 4.5 metres (15 feet) deep, and the city says it needs the full width of the intersection closed to keep residents, drivers and crews safe.

Outbound drivers will follow a marked detour between Windsor Street and Connaught Avenue, using the same route inbound traffic already takes: Windsor Street, North Street, Chebucto Road and Connaught Avenue. Bayers Road will stay open to two-way local traffic on either side of the closure, between Connaught Avenue and Connolly Street and between Windsor and Dublin streets, with signs prohibiting through traffic.

HRM says emergency access will be maintained at all times, and access to homes and businesses will stay open through marked detours, though some sidewalks and crosswalks may close temporarily as the work moves along. For schools in the area, a dedicated detour via Roslyn Road has been set up for school buses and parent pickup and drop-off, worked out with the school board.

Bus riders shouldn’t see a new change. Halifax Transit routes will keep using the detours already in place. Since August, Routes 1, 8, 192, 194 and 196 and outbound trips on Route 330 have skipped Bayers Road between Connaught Avenue and Windsor Street, with temporary stops on Connaught Avenue, Almon Street and Windsor Street, HRM said in July. Current stop details are on the Halifax Transit service disruptions page.

The closure is part of the Bayers Road Transit Priority Corridor Phase 2 project, which runs from Connaught Avenue to Young Street and will add dedicated bus lanes linking the ones built in Phase 1 to the Young and Windsor intersection. Phase 1, between Romans Avenue and Connaught Avenue, wrapped up in 2021 and brought the bus lanes and the multi-use path on the south side of the road that reshaped the Halifax Shopping Centre and Connaught intersections.

Dexter Construction began Phase 2 the week of Aug. 4 and the city expects the work to take about two years. HRM says more than half of it happens below the surface, with Halifax Water replacing water, wastewater and stormwater pipes at the same time so the road doesn’t have to be dug up again later. Two-way traffic is expected to return through the corridor each winter, when construction slows down.

To ease the pressure on side streets, the city says it has added traffic calming on Romans Avenue and is watching the signals at Connaught Avenue and at Windsor and Young streets.

After the intersection reopens, things improve in steps. Starting Nov. 12, Bayers Road between Windsor Street and Connolly Street is expected to reopen to one-way outbound traffic, while inbound access from Connaught Avenue to Connolly Street stays limited to local residents and businesses. HRM says all dates are estimates that could shift with weather or site conditions. Questions go to 311 or contactus@311.halifax.ca, and full two-way traffic on Bayers Road is scheduled to return on Dec. 17.