Hamilton Roads

[TheRitsman]

I posted this on Twitter, but I find it a bit unfortunate that this design doesn't include a bus lane shoulder for the Go Bus to reach the 407 and reverse in rush hour.

[Innsertnamehere]

your tweet is what tipped me off - thanks.

The whole project through this stretch looks wildly expensive - it'll be a complex project. I spot 2 rail bridges, two new freeway flyovers, and 2 road overpass reconstructions.

The real question is when MTO will move it to construction. The interchange at Hwy 5/6 got funding last year and is currently listed for construction in "2024-2025" so that should be underway shortly-ish.. We'll see. I imagine the QEW / 403 widening through the Freeman interchange in Burlington will have to happen at the same time or before this one.

[Dengler Avenue]

What about those substandard curves by Cootes’ Paradise? One of them seems so tight (at a turning radius of 320 m??) that even 90 kph is problematic. It feels like those Quebec urban freeways with a 70 kph speed limit.

On se croît au Québec. (We think we’re in Quebec.)

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

What about those substandard curves by Cootes’ Paradise? One of them seems so tight (at a turning radius of 320 m??) that even 90 kph is problematic.

The speed limit is 90 between (approximately) Aberdeen Ave. and Hwy 6 North, though few drivers observe it.

I don't think there much they can do about that stretch. The bridges over the channel between the harbour and Cootes Paradise (part of the original Desjardins Canal) were redone a few years ago, and the highway was adjusted a little: e.g., wider paved medians in places. But a full rebuild would probably be required to straighten out the curves, and the environmental issues would be huge.

[ScreamingViking]

The Claremont's walls are coming down.

Source

[Dengler Avenue]

It's interesting that the city had been using the walls to stabilize the rock cut. What is it doing this time? Is there a link?

[TheRitsman]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

It's interesting that the city had been using the walls to stabilize the rock cut. What is it doing this time? Is there a link?

I'm not sure how much you already know, but the access walls are very old and we're due for replacement years ago. They became dangerous and the side of the access closest to the wall was closed a couple months ago. They are going to be restabilizing the wall, which it seems includes removal of the old wall. I'm curious how they'll be doing it, whether concrete, stabilizing anchors, or some other kind of wall stabilizer.

[Dengler Avenue]

I suspect that @Innsertnamehere is our informant for these things.

[ScreamingViking]

I expect we'll see more metal "netting" like what has been installed along the 403 and Sherman Access, with a gutter lined with a tall concrete barrier to collect larger rockfalls. The SA used to have concrete or some other material sprayed against the escarpment rock to stabilize it and protect it from erosion, but water percolating behind that and the ice it becomes every winter take care of that over time.

These walls definitely have an expiry date, and that passed a long while ago. As debris and vegetation collect behind them, freeze-thaw cycles get more and more impactful and trees/plants start to root in behind, further exerting pressure on the panels.

There's no reason to have a 6-lane Claremont these days. Nor even a 70 km/hr "divided highway" (which many people traverse at far higher speeds) running between the lower and upper parts of the city. Maybe thought should be given to removing the median barrier after this work is done, and rethinking what the "Claremont Access" needs to be?

[Innsertnamehere]

It’s not 6 lanes any more, it’s 4, and it already has a dedicated barrier seperated pedestrian / cycling space. I don’t think anything more is needed for it. The 70km/h speed honestly is a rare example of an appropriate speed limit for a road in this town too.

Removing the median barrier would only make this road more dangerous.

[Corktowner]

I’d love to see the Claremont reduced to one lane in each direction, with both lanes connected to a two-way Victoria St. Wellington St could then be converted to two-way as well and decoupled from the Claremont, which would open up a big piece of land around Central Memorial rec centre and would reconnect the neighbourhood. But obviously that’s a total pipe dream for now.

[ScreamingViking]

Right - I keep forgetting the Keddy Trail is on the former up-bound third lane.

Yeah the 'active transportation' needs are well covered.

The Claremont doesn't seem to get congested, but if that lane adjacent to the escarpment can be safely re-opened, removing the centre median would allow for about 3 metres of extra space to reconfigure things. This could make sense if, say, the city was to do something radical and reserve James Mtn. Road for bus-only use to support the re-envisioned HSR network. Even then that general purpose capacity on the Claremont may not be needed, and safety would definitely need to be factored in. Maybe it will continue to meet demand as-is.

The Claremont was built in a time when so many people were commuting between the mountain and the north end industrial zone. With new uses planned for those lands hopefully employment will increase greatly, but it will probably not be at all close to what it was during the peak of the 1970s... there were probably 50,000+ people working at the steel companies alone back then, with tens of thousands more at all the other manufacturing plants long since gone or operating with fewer employees today. And commuting patterns are very different. Re-envisioning the transportation network needs to be an ongoing process, and I'd just like to see some thinking about this particular connector between the upper and lower city.

In this city there's a strong aversion to change, especially among long-standing citizens. My parents are a prime example... they moved here in the late 1960s as newlywed 20-somethings, but say things like "I don't understand taking away the one-way streets" though they rarely drive across town, "the LRT doesn't make sense" though they don't use transit, "why are they building condos downtown, who would want to live there?" when they don't go downtown very often, etc. Maybe that attitude is not so unique but it's held up a lot of good change in Hamilton.

[Innsertnamehere]

I think my point is that the Claremont has already been rethought to a certain extent.. I don't think it needs further rethinking.

Another thing to keep in mind is that City traffic studies show that over the coming decades the biggest traffic issue in the city is expected to become mountain accesses as here isn't really a way to improve cross-mountain travel capacity without major costs and environmental impacts. I think it's reasonable to generally preserve the capacity we have right now.

I just don't see the Claremont itself as all that much of a problem - I think it's better to focus on Wellington and Victoria and how to improve those roads than it is to spend big bucks on the Claremont which has already seen very safe pedestrian infrastructure installed and which isn't causing problems for anyone else either. Reducing it's capacity wouldn't achieve anything really other than just spiting drivers at this point.

[Corktowner]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I just don't see the Claremont itself as all that much of a problem - I think it's better to focus on Wellington and Victoria and how to improve those roads than it is to spend big bucks on the Claremont which has already seen very safe pedestrian infrastructure installed and which isn't causing problems for anyone else either. Reducing it's capacity wouldn't achieve anything really other than just spiting drivers at this point.

The problem is that the Claremont's capacity is only possible/necessary if Wellington and Victoria remain one-way traffic sewers that are hostile and dangerous and sever the Stinson neighbourhood in half. The two issues are interconnected.

Also, I'm just not convinced the capacity is needed. The Claremont is never congested. If Hamilton invests in better transit and manages to significantly increase its transit mode share (which is totally doable), I can't believe we'll need so much mountain access capacity. On that note, I'd be much more open to maintaining current capacity if there was serious talk of repurposing some of it for LRT or BRT.

[ScreamingViking]

Figured this was the best place for this story, since it's a driving fault.

That "jog" Cannon makes at Ottawa is dangerous, but in my experience it's cars making a left from Cannon to Ottawa in front of oncoming traffic. I wonder if that was what happened. But some drivers do take it very fast, like it's a chicane on an F1 circuit.

This place was on the kitty-corner opposite when it was hit the first time.


The Cannon café closed after motorist strikes its building — again
Ottawa Street North café will remain closed until further notice.

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-re...d0478a8-fae7-546d-8762-d60c8bd6698f.html

By Fallon Hewitt
The Hamilton Spectator
Thursday, August 24, 2023



If the Cannon cafe had two nickels for each time their building has been hit by a motorist, they would only have 10 cents — but it’s weird that it happened twice.

The Ottawa Street North coffee shop has been forced to close its doors for the second time in nearly three years after a motorist crashed into its building early Thursday morning.

Owner Chris Poirier told The Spectator that, while the coffee shop should be able to reopen in the next few days, the latest crash is frustrating for the small business.

“I was pretty upset when I heard the news this morning,” he said. “It’s been a really tough three years with two cars going through our building, COVID-19 and then the impact on the restaurant industry.”

The coffee shop, which opened its doors at the intersection of Cannon and Ottawa streets more than a decade ago, moved to its new location at 180 Ottawa St. N. earlier this year.

That move, Poirier noted, was partially supported by the risk their original spot seem to face with the off-kilter junction, noting that he wasn’t at all surprised when the first crash happened.

Back in September 2020, when the cafe was located at 179 Ottawa St. N., a man crashed his vehicle into the front windows, causing significant damage to the building.

No one was hurt in that incident, which saw the motorist charged with impaired driving.

“It felt like it was bound to happen,” said Poirier. “But on the new corner, I thought we’d be good here.”

Few details on crash
Const. Krista-Lee Ernst of the Hamilton police told The Spectator that officers were called to the intersection of Cannon and Ottawa for reports of a two-vehicle collision just before 5 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Ernst said police believe two motorists collided at the intersection, with one of the vehicles subsequently crashing into the front of the coffee shop. She could not provide any more details on the chain of events.

However, Ernst said both vehicles had front-end damage, and one of the drivers fled the area on foot. She could not confirm which vehicle that driver was in.

Ernst said the remaining driver declined treatment by paramedics, while a passenger of the other vehicle was not injured. Charges have yet to be laid in the crash.

Intersection ‘needs to be fixed’
Poirier told The Spectator the intersection of Ottawa and Cannon has always felt like a “super dangerous” spot, figuring that he has called 911 at least half a dozen times for crashes happening just outside the front door.

Yet, nothing has been done by the city to make it safer, Poirier said.

“I don’t know what that would look like and all the subtleties of managing traffic, but I do know that it’s way too dangerous there,” he said. “And it needs to be fixed.”

Carolyn Ryall, director of transportation for the city, told The Spectator that staff will be looking into the incident to “assess whether any safety measures are required for implementation as part of our commitment to the principles of Vision Zero.”

Ward 4 councillor Tammy Hwang told The Spectator that she has requested a meeting with city staff to find “quick solutions” for the intersection as the city eyes long-term safety fixes for the junction.

Hwang added that she and Ward 3 councillor Nrinder Nann are also working toward creating an Ottawa Street master plan, which would see all intersections considered for safety upgrades.

She noted that solutions in the short-term could look like some kind of temporary barrier, but accessibility would need to be maintained for pedestrians and cyclists in the area.

“Ottawa Street is meant to be a destination,” said Hwang. “Road safety has to be No. 1 on that street.”

Repairs should happen ‘relatively quickly’
The Spectator visited the cafe late Thursday morning, which was already blocked off by fencing and being worked on by two men.

Much of the damage was focused on the seating area of the shop, with one of the doors broken away from the hinges. Poirier said damage to the interior space was minimal, with some fluid from one of the vehicles leaking onto their floor and the counters damaged from bits of flying glass.

Bob Nuttall, manager of building inspections for the city, told The Spectator that a city inspector was at the site Thursday and had deemed the building unsafe and had issued an order to the building owner — which is Indwell.

Graham Cubitt, director of projects and development at the non-profit, said there was “quite a bit” of damage to the front facade, with the exit door taking the brunt of it.

“But all things considered we’ll be able to navigate repairs relatively quickly,” he said in an email to The Spectator. “We’re working closely with the Cannon to minimize the disruption to their business.”

With the crash being treated as a fail-to-remain, Ernst said police are asking residents and businesses in the area who may have footage of the crash to call 905-546-4925.

[matt602]

I looked at the intersection on google maps and I'm not too sure what they could really do to change things. The corners of the intersection don't really have any room for bollards without blocking the pedestrian crossing area or the sidewalk, which is already pretty narrow since the corner buildings come right up to the street. Could maybe make it more clear that drivers need to stay in the left lane on Cannon to proceed through, the signage only says that the right lane is a turn lane, not that it actually ends there.

[TheRitsman]

https://twitter.com/Brenden86271592/status/1695150796583694374?t=fVuYhn_F87y1ocHahi3Kpw&s=19

I really don't think this intersection is busy enough 95% to really need all the separate turn lanes. Could easily be removed to add additional sidewalk space and therefore room for bollards and would further calm the intersection and slow people down. If you review the AADT for the intersection you see a rate that is within the range for a removal of turning lanes and I think that's the best course of action here and what I hope to see from the staff report.

[Innsertnamehere]

right turn lanes are unnecessary for sure, but I'm not sure removing them would actually improve the "straight on" condition. The jog makes it challenging to address.

The problem is that the intersection jogs, and some cars seem to have a tendency to go "straight".. removing the right turn lanes would narrow the ped crossing distances, but it wouldn't fix or reduce the jog, which is the real issue.

It would be like complaining about a leaky roof and having someone in to replace your worn carpet in your bedrooms. Sure, it'll help make things better.. but it doesn't do anything for the real issue.

The only way I could see fixing it is converting it to a bi-directional cycle track which switches sides at the intersection. This would make the car lanes more or less straight-on, but would be inconvenient for cyclists who would have a 2-stage crossing of the intersection.

[TheRitsman]

I was meaning more for adding bollards. Removing the turn lanes would give space for bollards.

Furthermore, slowing Cannon St from here to at least Bernie Morelli to 40km/h and having the bumpouts designed to squeeze cars and slow them through the intersection would solve.most of the issues.

[ScreamingViking]

I think there's space for bollards now. I have no idea what the "standards" are, but the present situation, especially with the ramped sidewalks that probably help launch an automobile into the buildings on the east and west sides of Ottawa St., is not good.

It would help if drivers would just SLOW THE F@CK DOWN on Cannon. But that's probably a fool's hope, for some of them. Even if calming measures are put in.