Angus L MacDonald Bridge

I was crossing the bridge today on my way home from work going from Dartmouth to Halifax and I wondered has anyone Unilocaled about this bridge. Sure enough 3 people beat me to the punch.
The bridge is a nice ride. Smooth I never have problems with traffic jams etc… As I live downtown Halifax and work in Dartmouth and we all know the traffic goes the other way. The only problem I ever had on the bridge is hitting that gate from going too fast. I guess it does not read the cards quickly enough? Other than that yeah it’s a bridge what else can I say. OH yeah fees went up to mac pass users to 80 cents but I can’t even complain my work pays for it.

For years, any time I would make the trek to Dartmouth, it would always be this bridge. Bussing, driving, biking or walking. Of course, this being the only of the two bridges that allowed biking or walking anyway, it automatically gives it some bonus points.
Lately however, the other bridge has been used more and more for me as I live nearly halfway between the two. The MacDonald bridge is only three lanes so that might make it lose those bonus points, plus the fact that the middle lane does change several times a day.
The downside of this bridge as a biker is that on the Halifax side, you can only exit by going under the bridge so unless you’re going down Barrington St. anyway, you’ll have to go the extra effort and ride up the hill.
A walk across the bridge is definitely worth the 15 or so minutes it takes. It provides a nice view of downtown Halifax so a nice day can be breathtaking — that or the wind.

AKA «The Old Bridge.» If you need to remember which bridge is which, try this:
Old MacDonald had a bridge, EE-​I-​EE-​I-​O
And on that farm he had a car, EE-​I-​EE-​I-​O,
With a BEEP-​BEEP] here and a BEEP-​BEEP there
Here a BEEP, there a BEEP, everywhere a BEEP-​BEEP
Old MacDonald had a bridge, EE-​I-​EE-​I-​O.
Uh… Where was I going? Anyway, that’s now I remember the MacDonald is the old (smaller) bridge in town.
It’s also the only one with a pedestrian cross and cycle crossing. On opposite sides. Don’t mix them up, people! The cycling path apparently sucks. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never done it for fear of the Halifax side with their giant steep U-​turn.
The pedestrian crossing is fairly good. Though the new fencing they put up (…for no particular reason that we’ll discuss…) does make it hard to get those beautiful panoramic shots of the downtown that were a staple of bridge crossings in the past. If you do walk across (and it doesn’t take very long), bear in mind it gets quite windy up there. But stop for a moment and you’ll realize who much the bridge moves with each and every car. It’s both scary and fascinating.
It’s a great walk; I just wish there were more immediately on both sides to draw you in more.
BEEP-​BEEP

I’m writing this review as a biker; a cyclist that needs to cross over to Dartmouth sometimes, and then of course, come back again. WHY is it that when you cycle your buns off from Dartmouth to Halifax, the already relatively arduous task is made grueling with a ridiculous mandatory down hill exit?
The bike lane spirals down toward Barrington, instead of permitting cyclists to head up North Street. My bike is a fairly hefty number, so I can barely get myself back up that damn hill after being forced to go down it, when all I really want is to be able to exit onto North like the cars and pedestrians. Us cyclists are the ones physically exerting ourselves to no end, not to mention darting perpetual automobile attempts at creaming us off the road, so why must we be punished with this painstakingly laughable situation?!
PLUS, when you get down the hill, it’s terrifyingly difficult to U-​turn to the other side so that you can head back from whence you came. Holy — I’m getting heated just talking about the situation. But this is nothing compared to the sweat drenched heat of having to be put through the Macdonld Bridge’s cyclist rigmarole. This whole scene keeps me from going to Dartmouth sometimes — not purely because I don’t want to exert until I puke, but also based on the principle that bikers shouldn’t be screwed over like this.
SOMEBODY! SAVE THE CYCLISTS!