Quote:
Originally Posted by king10
I was speaking more towards the planning issues of lack of transit, road capacity and no sidewalks.
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totally agree….and serious pressure should be put on city hall to increase transit. I've read through some of our transportation plan documents lately and the disconnect between what people want vs what city hall wants to do (roads roads roads) is really amazing.
I don't follow the news in Ancaster much, but they had a mini-revolt up there towards the city's attempts to turn many of their nice village 2-lane streets (Wilson, Rousseaux, McNiven) into 4-5 lane cross sections with double left turn lanes etc…. basically trying to give the old Main/King/Upper James treatment to Ancaster Village. Reading through the public meeting minutes it's stunning how loud and passionately residents are asking for no road widenings, but instead, massive investments in transit, walkability and safe cycling networks.
All the city of Hamilton knows is more lanes and more roads. With the morning issues on the 403 EB that currently exist, we have a perfect opportunity to look at a rapid transit bus route down Wilson (with it's own lanes as much as possible) from Ancaster into W Hamilton to McMaster, connected right into the future B-Line LRT. Ditto for a rapid transit route with it's own lanes from Limeridge Mall to downtown and on and on the possibilities go.
This area of Stoney Creek being discussed is a perfect time to look at adding a 'transit-way' along the Service Road (perhaps there's room to add bus-only lanes on the sides) connecting the new Costco/big box area at the far end of Stoney Creek, up and along the N Service Rd with a few stops in these residential hoods (along with allowing more high-rise density along the N Service Road lands) right to Centennial GO Station and onto Eastgate Square and the LRT B-line.
Hamilton being relatively compact could easily see a surge in transit ridership but city hall refuses to invest in transit.
So we add more roads and more lanes across the countryside and everyone complains when they funnel onto the Line or 403 and sit there for 45 minutes.
Newsflash to Hamilton planners: go visit LA if you want to see what happens when adding more lanes is your solution to traffic issues.
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