Hamilton Roads

[Fruitloops]

My fear is that with labour and material costs skyrocketing, the prov and fed may abandon the LRT project or at the very least offer no more funding. That would greatly increase the burden on local tax base to get the infrastructure and roads done meaning they wont get done. We love in precarious times. Look at how many projects are being "delayed". Its all about the money.

[TheHonestMaple]

I actually don't think the LRT will get cancelled at this point. The contract has been signed. This one is happening.

[Innsertnamehere]

I don't think it will be cancelled, but the contract hasn't been signed.

[TheHonestMaple]

Didn't the city sign an agreement with Metrolinx, which doesn't allow either party to pull out. It's a done deal.

[king10]

Originally Posted by Fruitloops

some roads are so bad that you risk getting concussed driving down them, hello Main St. Where is the duty to care on the part of the City on some of the more terrible roads. Never mind the damage to vehicles someone will be hurt due to the City's neglect. Waiting for the LRT start to fix some of these issues is a farce.

They aren't waiting for LRT. The above poster just talked in detail about the enhance 0.5% and 1% tax levy dedicated to roads.

It's not a simple fix that can be done in one year. People can't afford a one time 10% tax increase. It's going to take a least a decade of incremental enhanced investment to start seeing a difference.

[TheRitsman]

The memorandum of understanding is signed. It's happening. Theoretically they could still pull out, but it would be a huge clusterfuck and they'd likely face lawsuits from various angles.

[ScreamingViking]

Downloading from the senior level of government hasn't helped either. Main and the one-way section of King used to be part of provincial Hwy 8. Hwy 6 ran through the city before the new alignment was built near the airport. And more broadly, municipalities having to budget for things like social services and other downloaded programs has cut into what's available for infrastructure.

I think if people weighed the additional maintenance costs to their vehicles against tax increases to devote more money to road infrastructure, in the longer term they'd come out ahead on average. My car is nearing 14 years old, and I just replaced all the struts for the second time... in 4 years! Some of that is because the vehicle was hauling a lot of stuff the past few years (hatchback; pretty sure I went beyond the cargo weight limit a few times), but some is the pounding it's taken on the likes of Main, York, Dundurn, Barton, etc... streets I rarely used before moving back to Hamilton.

Heavy trucks are a factor as well, and they inflict even more damage to already rough roads if they're "bouncing" across bumpy pavement; it leads to more of a pounding. With all the construction downtown, dump trucks in particular will continue to have impacts on the main streets for years to come.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

And more broadly, municipalities having to budget for things like social services and other downloaded programs has cut into what's available for infrastructure.

It's debatable whether these social services are the responsibility of the municipality. In my view, they aren't and should be drastically reduced or completely eliminated. The city should focus on its core responsibilities - infrastructure and utilities. Anything else is a burden on the taxpayer and not a necessity at all.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by TheHonestMaple

It's debatable whether these social services are the responsibility of the municipality. In my view, they aren't and should be drastically reduced or completely eliminated. The city should focus on its core responsibilities - infrastructure and utilities. Anything else is a burden on the taxpayer and not a necessity at all.

I agree. The Harris government uploaded education, which was already a separate line item on property taxes, but put the social service burden on cities (with occasional ad hoc handouts to help with funding in some cases). It's led to a "system" that's uneven across Ontario, which is unfair to both municipal governments and the people that need the services.

Meanwhile economies were restructuring, the competition for economic development to replace lost jobs and re-grow commercial/industrial tax bases heated up, and populations continued to swell creating more "need" for everything that is the responsibility of cities and towns, including local roads!

[Corktowner]

Originally Posted by TheRitsman

The memorandum of understanding is signed. It's happening. Theoretically they could still pull out, but it would be a huge clusterfuck and they'd likely face lawsuits from various angles.

People keep saying stuff like this, but it's just not true. Who would pursue a lawsuit, and on what grounds? The federal and provincial governments could jointly decide to withdraw their funding anytime they want, or (the more likely scenario) inflation might make that funding insufficient and they could refuse to offer more. There are still lots of ways this project could die. Until the contract is signed, nothing is guaranteed. And procurement hasn't even begun, so a signed contract is still a long way off.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by Corktowner

People keep saying stuff like this, but it's just not true. Who would pursue a lawsuit, and on what grounds? The federal and provincial governments could jointly decide to withdraw their funding anytime they want, or (the more likely scenario) inflation might make that funding insufficient and they could refuse to offer more. There are still lots of ways this project could die. Until the contract is signed, nothing is guaranteed. And procurement hasn't even begun, so a signed contract is still a long way off.

Seems unlikely at this point. The Ford government has shown that they are committed to building public transit. No other provincial government in the history of Ontario has built as much transit as Ford has. They've given Metrolinx huge sums of money. The MOU has been signed.

[Corktowner]

I agree it’s not too likely in the current political context, but it’s totally possible. And if the politics shift, it could easily become likely. A lot of people seem to think there’s some kind of magic forcefield that makes it impossible for this project to be cancelled, and I think that complacency is unfounded and dangerous.

[ScreamingViking]

Was this crazy bastard simply looking for a smoother skating path than can be found on other local roads?

More likely just a crazy bastard. Probably influenced by substances. The story notes no charges were laid.

• Video Link


Inline skater turns heads on Hamilton’s Lincoln Alexander Parkway
A skater became an unexpected traffic disruption on major Hamilton highway Sunday morning until police escort him safely off

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...y-skating.html

Jeff Mahoney
The Hamilton Spectator
Sun., April 9, 2023


...

Josh Lucrezi, on his way to London from the United States, did a double take as his car came within eyeshot of the un-vehicled highway-naut.

“It was kind of surreal,” says Lucrezi, who captured video of the incident and sent it to The Spectator.

“People were kind of slowing down around him but he kept going. At times he seemed to be taunting drivers.”

A police car tried to intercept his progress by attempting to get him to pull over. When the skater made efforts to elude the police car, Lucrezi says the cruiser got off at the nearest exit, then got back on at the next one and caught up with him that way.

“One of our officers happened to be on the Linc and saw him,” said Hamilton Police Staff Sergeant Steve Hahn. “The officer responded to the situation and he (the skater) was spoken to about the rules of the road.”

...

[Innsertnamehere]

Hamilton's Highway 6 widening study is progressing. A public information meeting was held in November which indicates that the Province appears to intend to build interchanges along the corridor and upgrade it to a 100km/h freeway, and not simply provide a twinned roadway with signalized intersections. The province announced construction funding for this last year, so it should move to construction in relative short order.


https://hwy6southwideninghamilton.ca/consultation/


Book Road - I suspect we will see a traditional Parclo interchange here (Alternative 1A)



Airport Road - Alternative 1 is my favourite for this one:



Some interesting options for the intersection with Upper James.. I think I would go with Option 1B (roundabout) for now, and hold of on the full reconfiguration of the intersection until the extension to Caledonia is built. I could see MTO going with 3B to reduce duplication costs for the Caledonia extension, but I really hope they don't go with 4 with the silly loop.

[catcher_of_cats]

Thanks for sharing these.

[ScreamingViking]

Best to build a parclo at Book now. It will probably become a suburban road at some point (maybe with a better connection to Dickenson).

I agree about the others, though the connection to Upper James seems more open to options. The current traffic-lighted intersection isn't ideal (so 1A is not good) and Alternative 4 may be useful for the potential future extension, though I wonder is that the best place to have that connector? Might be better farther south in the future, depending on development patterns and what happens around the AEGD.

[Dengler Avenue]

I feel that 1B for Upper James Road may be a good compromise. Anything after that seems to be committing too much to a stop gap.

[Innsertnamehere]

The preferred design for the widening of Highway 403 and Highway 6 through Aldershot and into Hamilton is now available online for review:

https://hwy403hwy6preliminarydesignea.ca/tesr/

It proposes to widen Highway 403 to 8 lanes from the QEW to York Boulevard and Highway 6 to 6 lanes south of Highway 5. The interchange between Hwy 6 and Hwy 403 will also be reconstructed to remove the left-side merge and introduce a second lane for southbound-eastbound movements and eastbound-northbound movements.



The full roll plan is available here:

https://hwy403hwy6preliminarydesigne...mendedPlan.pdf

[Hawrylyshyn]

You mean going from Highway 6 to Eastbound 403 will no longer merge into the fast lane?!?! A miracle

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

You mean going from Highway 6 to Eastbound 403 will no longer merge into the fast lane?!?! A miracle

yup. The York Boulevard on-ramp will actually have a continuous lane to Highway 6, so you won't even have to merge at all if you are getting on the 403 at York.