30 km speed limit plan endorsed

[flar]

40 would have been a nice compromise. 40 is standard on residential streets in Ottawa, including a lot of collector roads. 30 is too slow.

[SteelTown]

It's now 30 km/h for all of the North End expect Burlington and James St North.

[SteelTown]

Life in the slow lane
North End residents mean to slow down traffic

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/28...-down-traffic/

Life will soon be a lot slower in Hamilton's North End — and that suits many residents there just fine.

After a decade in the works, the city is ready to begin a five-year pilot project called the North End Traffic Management Plan.

The highlight of the plan is a reduction of the speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour on all roads in the North End with the exception of James and Burlington streets. The plan covers the area from Wellington Street to the west harbour and from the water's edge to the CN tracks just north of Barton Street.

The pilot project also calls for other traffic reduction measures such as curb extensions, enhanced crosswalks, lane narrowing and additional street parking.

"It's all about creating some calm," said Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr, who represents the North End. "It's about making this a child- and family-friendly neighbourhood.

"I talk to my colleagues and so many of them are going to be watching this five-year pilot closely," Farr added. "It's one of the major complaints in any residential neighbourhood."

The traffic management project is the North End community's response to the city's Setting Sail plan, which lays out the vision for the west harbour in the decades to come.

Redevelopment of the waterfront will bring increased traffic and density to the North End — as well as increased safety concerns for families already living there.

"We very quickly learned that the speed and the volume of traffic have a profound impact on how people relate to their community," said Herman Turkstra, a well-known Hamilton lawyer and North End resident. "Parents intuitively understand the safety relationship between the street and where they live.

"The goal was to try to find a way to channel the traffic that was going through the community to the main streets, to slow it down and to make the residential streets a place where if you have two or three children, you'd feel safe inside that this was a place where your kids were at minimum risk for harm."

About 100 people turned out Saturday afternoon at the corner of James and Strachan streets for the ceremonial ribbon-cutting to start the project and they were treated to pizza, live music, children's games and information displays.

"I happen to think that the strength of a city starts in the neighbourhoods," said Turkstra. "If you don't have strong and vibrant neighbourhoods, you don't get a strong and vibrant city.

"Small areas like Ancaster and Dundas know this intuitively," he added. "When you're in the heart of the city, you have to fight to make this happen. It doesn't happen automatically."

[realcity]

That's almost what Barton Street East traffic travels between Victoria and Sherman. And look at that stretch. What has crawling traffic done for the area.?

[bigguy1231]

It's only going to last until the residents in the area that didn't bother to pay attention to what is going on start getting ticketed by the police for speeding. The police in this city will be swarming that area looking for easy marks. Once that happens there will be an uproar and council will reverse its decision.

[Pearlstreet]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

It's only going to last until the residents in the area that didn't bother to pay attention to what is going on start getting ticketed by the police for speeding. The police in this city will be swarming that area looking for easy marks. Once that happens there will be an uproar and council will reverse its decision.

Well something happened, it beats Bernie's Ward three where everyone is a renter, could not care less and never go to bat for their area.

[durandy]

I disagree, once people get used to 30 it will feel like sanity. 50 on residential streets is pure madness, and 40 is enough to kill an errant child. At 30 you can stop quickly. I predict in twenty years people will look back on the bad old days when people regularly got killed by cars.

[mattgrande]

Originally Posted by realcity

That's almost what Barton Street East traffic travels between Victoria and Sherman. And look at that stretch. What has crawling traffic done for the area.?

When's the last time someone got hit by a car in that stretch?

[matt602]

I think we've beaten the "look what 2 way/traffic calmed/complete streets has done for Barton" horse enough already. Barton would be a lot worse if it weren't one lane in each direction with on-street parking, bumpouts and wide sidewalks. The abandoned buildings and "street life" on Barton aren't too pretty but on a Friday night in the summer when my friends and I take a stroll along Barton from their place North of it on Emerald, it's actually pretty enjoyable just because of the slow moving trafic, wide sidewalks and many trees. We can actually have conversations with each other without yelling and not have transport trucks rush by at 60km/h blowing road dirt into your eyes as they do on Main or Cannon.

When Barton does have it's renaissance, I think it's gonna be just as big if not bigger a destination than James North or Locke because of the mostly intact streetwalls, tree-lined streets, general hospital and beautification that the city has already done between Wentworth and Victoria. If you look past the drugs, prostitution and vacant buildings, there is a really nice stretch of urban street there. I'm hoping that when that does happen, the city will consider extending the look of that stretch West of Victoria and East of Wentworth to Sherman.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

My great aunt used to live on Holton between Main and King (a couple blocks from Barton). Back in the day, the residential areas south of Barton were quite desirable. Even today, those high quality homes command a decent price in spite of the fact they're adjacent to Barton and King, etc. In those days, however, Barton was hopping. The buildings lining the street were fully activated and people - middle class or working class earning middle class wages, if that makes any sense - could walk down to Barton and spend those hard-earned dollars at a variety of independent and chain retail shops. They were proud, too. Somewhere along the way, things changed.

I guess what happened to Barton is fairly simple:

- failing industry/ loss of jobs
- subsequent flight of middle class out of the area
- location => too close to industry

Barton could rebound but I think the City will have to make changes to the way some of the surrounding streets like Victoria, Wellington and Cannon function (i.e. two-way, low speed limits) and, of course, we'll need a little luck, too. It'll never be what it was, but it could be good again.

[thistleclub]

North End traffic calming plan hits a rough patch
(Hamilton Spectator, Dan Nolan, Dec 5 2013)

A city official pleaded with North End residents to have patience with a traffic calming plan after a heated meeting in which residents denounced the placement of so-called "traffic chokers" at intersections.

Residents attending Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr's neighbourhood meeting Wednesday night said parking is already at a premium and said the chokers — metal poles about a metre high — are taking away precious spots.

"The point we are saying is everything is not set in stone," said Steve Molloy, project manager of Hamilton's transport master plan. "We're listening. We're not saying 'This is what we're going to do ...' At the end of the day we can arrive at something we can all be happy with."

About 100 people attended the meeting at the Bennetto Community Centre. A five-year pilot project called the North End Traffic Management Plan was implemented in August. It calls for traffic to be slowed to 30 km/h on some streets, the chokers, directional changes and a roundabout at James and Strachan.

Carrie Nicholson has gathered more than 400 names on a petition asking for the chokers to go. She said since she moved to the area 10 new cars have come to her street.

Some said the plan was foisted on the community by "an elite" and the majority of citizens were not consulted.

[Pearlstreet]

Probably should have bought a house with a driveway. Nimby nimby nimby

[markbarbera]

Who exactly are the nimby's, the residents who have had the existing parking spots removed by the chokers, or the residents who pushed for the chokers because the existing traffic was too fast for their liking?

Personally, I think it is a bit of a straw man to call out anyone on either side of the argument as nimby.

[Pearlstreet]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

Who exactly are the nimby's, the residents who have had the existing parking spots removed by the chokers, or the residents who pushed for the chokers because the existing traffic was too fast for their liking?

Personally, I think it is a bit of a straw man to call out anyone on either side of the argument as nimby.

I suggested the home owners are NIMBY. Look at the big picture. Heartless, maybe, brainless - not. We all take a little discomfort for the benefit of progress. The parking spot was never theirs, they presumed wrongly that they could use the street as their spot indefinitely and took that chance. This type of thing, just the same as more vehicles parking in your neighbourhood can happen. This is the risk they knowingly took. Time to build a driveway or suggest solutions as they obviously promise compromise and allow betterment for the greater masses. The promise to continue finding solutions by the city shows they are aware, but everything takes time. Bottom line, there is room for improvement, why 'choke' the opportunity? It could increase their property values too!

[Jon Dalton]

Street parking is beneficial because it encourages people not to build driveways. Many older homes don't have room for one and people build one anyways, essentially paving over their front yard. It's illegal, and it looks ugly, but people do it anyways and by and large get away with it. I tend to agree with the homeowners here that the poles ought to go. Speed bumps would be just as effective.

[coalminecanary]

People in real cities often don't get to park right in front of their house. How far away, on average, is the nearest empty space?

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

People in real cities often don't get to park right in front of their house. How far away, on average, is the nearest empty space?

I'm just outside the border of the 30km/h zone, but on my street the answer is 'not very far at all'.