Hamilton Waterfront

[SteelTown]

You can see more details of the plans here, check out page 45 for the relocation of the lighthouse and plans for Fishermen's Pier.

https://www.hopaports.ca/wp-content/...t-Plan_FIN.pdf

Please let the bridge light animation plan go through, page 47. Could be our mini Sydney Harbour bridge.

[Berklon]

The redevelopment of the area just before the life-bridge and underneath the Skyway will be a welcome addition. It's not very attractive now and feels like wasted space.

[Innsertnamehere]

A protected crossing of EastPort and Beach is badly needed too. Just in general it looks like a much better use of the space.

MTO Is also still protecting long term to Widen the skyway as well to a 12 lane core-collector system, though I believe they are planning to do that to the south of the existing skyway.

[TheHonestMaple]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

A protected crossing of EastPort and Beach is badly needed too. Just in general it looks like a much better use of the space.

MTO Is also still protecting long term to Widen the skyway as well to a 12 lane core-collector system, though I believe they are planning to do that to the south of the existing skyway.

Do you have any documents showing that? Would love to see what a 12 lane skyway looks like.

[Innsertnamehere]

I took a look at my records.. MTO did plan for a new north bridge after all, actually.

This was last looked at as far as I am aware in the Niagara-GTA study, which looked at long term transportation capacity for Niagara and the west GTA. Among a bunch of other things, it projected then need to widen the Skyway.. With a widening of the south bridge and a new north bridge and a total of 16 (!!) lanes.

This was the only image provided:

[IMG][/IMG]

It also included some upgrades at the RHVP and QEW interchanges..



and a widening of the 403 through Hamilton:



A lot of the work identified in the study (403 widening through Burlington, Freeman Interchange upgrades, twinning of the Garden City Skyway, 403/QEW interchange in Oakville upgrades) have had environmental assessments complete or are underway, and will likely get built in the next few years. So MTO seems to be working it's way down the priority list of the projects identified in the study, and one of them was widening the skyway.

[ScreamingViking]

The flyover for Toronto-bound traffic from the RHVP would be helpful. That curved ramp is pretty tight, and mixing with traffic getting off at Tesla/Burlington and merging from Centennial just east of there means your head needs to be on a swivel with the current configuration. Ramps for 3 major roadways within about one km makes for some difficult engineering.

I wonder if they'd consider a collector system.

The concept of a new ramp over the ponds would not be an easy sell.

Eastport Drive and its ramps with the QEW would change a lot too under that bridge scenario (and others)

[Innsertnamehere]

The study was mostly just traffic volume planning and "test-fits" of potential capacity requirements to make sure they are feasible.

As each individual project has gone into an actual environmental assessment the detailed design has been tweaked.

The Niagara-GTA study identified a directional flyover for Toronto-bound QEW to Hamilton-bound 403 at the freeman interchange for example, while the now completed EA instead opted for a 2-lane loop ramp, for example. So I wouldn't put too much stock in the designs.

It always annoyed me the RHVP had it's primary capacity routing towards Niagara and not Toronto as Toronto bound traffic is likely just as high, if not higher. The main capacity crunch in that area right now though is the QEW to RHVP ramp, which always backs up in the PM rush.

If you look closely at the drawing you can see how the collector/express from the Skyway end approaching Burlington St / the RHVP.

The Freeman Interchange EA didn't identify any protection for this future collector-express setup on the Skyway however, so I wonder if MTO is still seriously considering it. A less expensive solution may just be a widening of the south bridge to accommodate some new HOVs over the Skyway.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The Freeman Interchange EA didn't identify any protection for this future collector-express setup on the Skyway however, so I wonder if MTO is still seriously considering it. A less expensive solution may just be a widening of the south bridge to accommodate some new HOVs over the Skyway.

I could see that being a first step. Make it all 12 lanes wide, with barrier separated sections of the newer/expanded bridge for 1 or 2 HOVs or HOTs in each direction.

I imagine the RHVP ramps to/from QEW Toronto are much busier during the week. Weekends may be different. Having that two lane off-ramp onto the RHVP narrow to one where it enters the parkway is definitely no longer sufficient, and something really needs to be done with the curve onto the Toronto bound QEW but short of a new structure to connect it better (likely meaning purchase of the VersaCold facility, as shown above) won't be cheap all on its own.

For the 403, changing the flyovers to/from Hwy 6 North will be a big improvement too. It's dangerous to merge onto the 403 EB from 6, and the traffic jogging over to the left to get from 403 EB to 6 makes for congestion. This could be helpful now, but will especially be needed as further improvements to Hwy 6 happen. Development at Hwy 5/Dundas and 6 will add to the traffic issues too.

[Innsertnamehere]

MTO is studying the 403/6 interchange right now. It would involve reconstruction of the 403/6 interchange to eliminate the left hand merges that are there right now and would widen the 403 to 8-lanes from York Boulevard through Burlington to the Freeman interchange.

https://hwy403hwy6preliminarydesignea.ca/

I suspect we will see the 403 HOVs extended through to the Skyway towards the end of the decade, likely with the 8-laning of the 403 through Aldershot as well, at least to Waterdown Road. No idea when the 403/6 interchange widening will happen as that will be a very big ticket item.

Further MTO work in the Hamilton area is likely still a while away, though I believe the City is set to start the RHVP and Linc widening EA this year, so that may happen towards the end of the decade as well.

[SteelTown]

A great aerial view of Fisherman's Pier.


https://www.facebook.com/inthehammer

[ScreamingViking]

That photo looks "old" just based on the graininess and the colouring. It's not (the hulk of Paradigm condos next to the Burlington GO station looms in the distance), but it looks it.

[ScreamingViking]

This should be interesting to see happen.


How do you move a 1,000-tonne limestone lighthouse?
‘Very slowly,’ according to experts weighing in on the planned relocation of the beloved Hamilton beach canal landmark.

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...-landmark.html

Matthew Van Dongen
The Hamilton Spectator
Thu., Feb. 3, 2022






Moving a historic stone lighthouse is not a job to be taken lightly.

Historical heft aside, Hamilton’s beach canal beacon weighs about 1,000 tonnes, thanks to the rough dolomite blocks that form a base wall nearly as thick as an adult is tall.

Put another way, the lighthouse is heavier than nine blue whales, 15 army tanks or 140 male African elephants — all of which are more mobile than a stone tower settled into the beach strip sand near the entrance to Hamilton Harbour.

Despite the daunting weight of limestone and history, engineers plan to gingerly jack the lighthouse off its 164-year-old foundation later this year and move it — ever so slowly — to a new, more publicly accessible home.

...

Critically, the deal will move the lighthouse out of the shadow of the federally operated Burlington Canal lift bridge. That’s the only way volunteers will be allowed to restore the long-shuttered building — or for visitors to eventually climb the 79 steps that spiral up the beacon, said Fenn, because the government considers the lighthouse too close to the lift bridge for safe public access.

But how do you even move a five-storey-high stone edifice that weighs twice as much as the world’s largest truck can carry?

The short answer is “very slowly,” said Gabriel Matyiko, vice-president of specialty moving company Expert House Movers, who has heard about Hamilton’s lighthouse relocation but is not involved.

“It is 100 per cent doable ... but each different building has its challenges,” he said. “This being a historic structure made of limestone, you know, it wasn’t built ... to be moved or picked up.”

The Maryland-based company has helped “rescue” six lighthouses in the U.S. from the threat of ocean erosion. That includes partnering on relocation of the nearly 5,000-tonne Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina close to a kilometre inland using a specialized track of steel beams and rollers.

To say the nearly $12-million project was complicated would be an understatement.

Multiple hydraulic jacks were needed to safely hoist the tower and a temporary base high enough to be pulled along a specially built track, about 1.5-metres at a time. Around 60 automated sensors were installed on the lighthouse to measure vibration and tilt — plus a tower-top weather station to monitor wind speed.

A contractor hasn’t been chosen for the beach lighthouse move yet, so it remains to be seen whether Hamilton’s relatively smaller limestone tower will move on rails, rollers or some other mechanized platform.

Expect a crowd on moving day, suggested Matyiko — but don’t expect the slow spectacle to lend itself to a 15-second TikTok video. The Cape Hatteras brick lighthouse inched to safety over 23 days, but sometimes as little as six metres a day.

The beach beacon only has to move about 60 metres — but the march to moving day could also be painstakingly slow, said port authority vice-president Bill Fitzgerald. He hopes to see relocation start before next winter, but there are obstacles other than heavy stone to overcome.

For example, any major work at the lighthouse will have to be co-ordinated with lift bridge operations and marine canal traffic. The limestone tower can’t duck under power lines, either, so those will come down temporarily.

The port authority also has to map out underground utilities and test the stability of the surrounding soil to ensure it can hold up under the 1,000-tonne footprint of a limestone giant.

Expect further delays if preventive masonry work is needed first on the old limestone — or if protected birds are nesting in the plywood-covered iron lantern atop the tower.

...

Matyiko said he is not aware of any attempted lighthouse relocations that ended with a toppled tower.

...

Restoration of the relocated tower will include replacing boarded up windows, repointing the mottled grey and brown stone exterior, fixing the rusted, plywood-sheathed iron lantern and replacing the long-removed beacon lens — allowing actual light atop the lighthouse for the first time since 1961.

...

full story here

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Kind of annoying that they're going the shove a parking lot there in a place that would be ideal for more greenspace.

[Innsertnamehere]

especially since they show parking under the Skyway as well, which is a better spot for it.

Hamilton should be careful with this lot, people will use it as an overflow from the Burlington beach during summer weekends when that lot fills up, especially if this lot isn't paid.

[FRM]

looking forward to seeing this plan come alive.

although, I'll be sad to see this area crowded more than it is now.

[Crapht]

It would be fantastic if they could somehow attach a cycle track to the outside of the lift bridge.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Crapht

It would be fantastic if they could somehow attach a cycle track to the outside of the lift bridge.

That would be really great.

They'd probably have to balance it with something on the other side of the bridge (though the existing pedestrian crossing is attached to the outside of the bridge frame already: https://goo.gl/maps/qXP73Mao2dCYTcZ66 ... could it just be widened, or matched with a partner on the east side?)

The extra steel and paving -- whether that's an issue I don't know. But this bridge used to have train tracks across it and handled train tonnage, so it must have lost some weight when that rail line was removed and maybe it's strong enough as it is for more attachments.

A dedicated pedestrian/cycling drawbridge between the Skyway and lift bridges would be ideal. Probably expensive, but ideal.

[craftbeerdad]

Wow a cycling lane over the Skyway would be tops!

Maybe some one with connections to cycling stuff in the city could mention it to Thorne? Hear he likes the two wheelers.

[Innsertnamehere]

honestly just widening the lift bridge by a metre or two would be enough.

The problem is that it's a federal property, not even provincial, so there aren't clear protocols for the municipality to make it happen.

It's a very busy crossing as it is and it isn't particularly safe or convenient with the required stairs to access it, so a proper loop trial to access it and a widened platform that can support cycling across it would make a huge difference.

[Berklon]

The problem with widening it is that they'd also have to also create/extend a platform for the end of the lift bridge to line up with the new width. It's tight as it is right now.

Even by widening it by a few feet, they'll probably still require that people walk their bikes across as it could still be a little dangerous. It would make it a more comfortable walk with bikes though - it's a tight squeeze there with people crossing in both directions.