Request for proposals issued to study environmental conditions along proposed Mill Cove ferry route

Halifax city hall is seeking outside help to look at oceanographic, meteorological and visibility conditions

HALIFAXtoday\ Michael Lightstone

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Halifax city hall is seeking outside help to look at oceanographic, meteorological and visibility conditions hooked to the operation of a proposed fast ferry between Bedford and Halifax.

The municipality has issued a request for proposals from qualified consultants. Bids must be filed by 2 p.m. on Oct. 26.

A tender document says the goal of the proposal request “is to secure a team to complete an assessment of the environmental conditions at both proposed (ferry) terminal sites and along the route.”

The planned locations would be at Mill Cove in Bedford and a new ferry terminal in downtown Halifax.

“The existing Halifax ferry terminal has functioned successfully for many decades,” the tender document says, “but the marine infrastructure and building are now approaching the end of their service life.”

A new fleet of vessels will be required to operate the proposed commuter ferry route.

The proposal request acknowledges the municipality “has studied ferry service expansion several times in the past two decades and investigations have revealed operational limitations including an inability to compete with (vehicular) driving times while maintaining safe operations and minimizing wake impacts.”

But the tender document says “recent advances in vessel design and technology have mitigated these limitations.”

The proposal request says part of the successful bidder’s work will be to research visibility issues, such as fog, and wind and ice conditions.

In June, Ottawa, the provincial government and Halifax Regional Municipality committed to fund a $3.3-million study covering the initial planning of a proposed speedy ferry linking Mill Cove to downtown Halifax.

The study will, among other things, “explore technology options for an electric ferry” serving commuters and presumably reducing the number of vehicles heading to and from the Halifax core. One-way travel time on the proposed new route is expected to be about 18 minutes.

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth