HALIFAX—Council is moving ahead with bus lanes for Robie and Young streets that could speed up some of the city’s most popular routes.

At its meeting on Tuesday, Halifax regional council voted unanimously in favour of moving to detailed design on the bus lanes, planned for next year on Young St. between Windsor and Robie streets, and Robie St. between Young St. and Quinpool Rd.

Combined with bus lanes on nearby Bayers Rd., which could be built this year, the new lanes would significantly reduce commutes for riders on Halifax Transit routes 80 and 81, which go to Bedford and Sackville, along with Route 7, which travels Robie and Gottingen streets.

While the bus lanes will benefit transit users, a staff report notes they’re expected to increase traffic congestion for other vehicles.

The first phase of the project, scheduled for construction next year, would put outbound bus lanes along the curb on the full stretch of Robie St. from Quinpool Rd. to Young St. and on Young St. to Windsor St.

The lanes would run in both directions on Robie St. between Young St. and Almon St., and between Cunard St. and Quinpool Rd.

None of the Robie and Young bus lanes require the municipality to widen the streets or buy any land, municipal engineer Mike Connors told council.

The detailed design will cost $250,000, and the construction is expected to cost $1.9 million, based on early estimates.

The second phase would require the municipality to buy land and widen the streets to enable bus lanes in both directions, and the cost is unknown.

“We have a reasonable idea of what property we might need, but we want to do a little bit more design work to test the alignment and see what the changes might be,” Connors told council.

Councillor Waye Mason hoped the detailed design would investigate extending the bus lane on Robie St. to Spring Garden Rd., one of the city’s main transit corridors.

“Ultimately, I think that this is a great start toward the goal of getting transit priority all the way to Spring Garden Rd. and that main corridor there,” Mason said.

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Councillor Sam Austin agreed, and argued there may be sections of Robie St. south of Quinpool Rd. that wouldn’t require buying any land.

The bus lanes would be in effect between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, meaning there’d be no parking at the 57 on-street spots in the area during the day. Parking and loading restrictions would be lifted on evenings and weekends.

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