Cycling Master Plan

[bornagainbiking]

Biggie is right Hamilton is a driven vehicle city and it is enshrined in the Main/King expressways. With the lights timed it is a quick dash east to west or vice versa.
Baby steps remember
The first hurdle would be to get theses streets two way ASAP and let that sink in for a while. This is linked to the LRT which is coming (not soon enough).
For a cross town mid city route try for another street like Wilson for a designated lane or Barton. It would be easier to stomach city wise. Just get rid of street parking/stopping and take the inside lane.
Barton would be a good choice as at the south end you have the lawrence/cumberland/stinson/hunter route.

Autos rule for now but with electric cars and escooters peoples minds are changing

[adam]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Unfortunately, for you cyclist you have a one track mind.

Literally! Haha! One lane, single file, that's the way bigguy.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Your insistance on putting bike lanes on King St. and Main St. It's not going to happen for the reasons I outlined in previous posts.

They said the same thing about highways, email, the telephone, stop lights, and even the rotary phone when they were first starting out. Naysayers deny change of any kind. What would have you said 5 years ago if I told you GM and Chrysler would be filing for bankruptcy today? "It's not going to happen"

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

All I am trying to do is point out what you are up against. It is not going to be an easy process.

A lot of us are up to the challenge! Bring it on.

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

I am sitting hear (sic) laughing reading all of these ridiculous posts.

Many well documented facts and figures have been presented to counter your arguments. Which of these do you find ridiculous, and why? You can't just make blanket statements like this and expect to be taken seriously.

As for these supposed facts and statistics that you keep citing, there are facts on both sides of the arguement and statistics can be skewed anyway you want, depending on where you stand on the issue.

Care to take a stab at it then? Give us some figures that say bike lanes don't work. Give us an example of another city, perhaps one as uniquely autocentric as Hamilton, in which cycling infrastructure has been proposed, implemented, and failed.

We live in a city with a car culture, bad or good that is reality. We have an aging population, older people vote, young people don't.

This is the core of your argument. Why don't you expand on that instead of just ridiculing and insulting us?

[Jon Dalton]

Originally Posted by adam

They said the same thing about highways, email, the telephone, stop lights, and even the rotary phone when they were first starting out. Naysayers deny change of any kind.

Like James and John being 2-way, tripling the cycling budget, hiring a full time cycling co-ordinator, endorsing LRT....

[ryan_mcgreal]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Unfortunately, for you cyclist you have a one track mind. Your insistance on putting bike lanes on King St. and Main St.

We think bike lanes should go on high-traffic streets with lots of destinations for cyclists. Crazy, I know.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

It's not going to happen for the reasons I outlined in previous posts.

What reasons? All you have outlined is your own transportation prejudice.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

As for these supposed facts and statistics that you keep citing, there are facts on both sides of the arguement and statistics can be skewed anyway you want, depending on where you stand on the issue.

Translation: the facts and statistics presented challenge your orthodoxy and make you uncomfortable, so you refuse to acknowledge them.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

We live in a city with a car culture, bad or good that is reality.

No, we live in a city with extensive car infrastructure and huge subsidies, both monetary and non-monetary, for driving. Change the balance of incentives and people will change their transportation choices. This is true of all humans always and everywhere, and there is nothing exceptional about Hamilton or Hamiltonians to suggest that human nature should not apply here.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Older people use their cars and do not want to be stuck in traffic with an empty bike lane next to them.

Cycling is not for everyone and no one here is claiming otherwise. However, driving is also not for everyone, which is why we defend a balanced transportation infrastructure.

In any case, a continuous network of bike lanes will be used, just as they are used everywhere they are built. Since bikes take up less space than cars, there will probably be less overall traffic, not more, as cycling increases its share of total trips.

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

I realize that some of you just can't comprehend that. All I am trying to do is point out what you are up against. It is not going to be an easy process.

We do comprehend that it is not an easy process, as many cycling advocates in Hamilton have already struggled for a decade or longer. The original "Shifting Gears" plan was drafted in the late 1990s.

With all due respect, you are not "pointing out" what we are up against - you are what we are up against: ignorance, fear of the unknown and a stubborn refusal to revise one's assumptions in the face of new evidence.

[BrianE]

^^^^^

Ditto.

[LikeHamilton]

Elderly cyclist killed on Barton St.

TheSpec.com

A garbage truck has struck and killed an elderly cyclist on Barton Street, closing the road just east of Kenilworth Ave.

The accident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. An eastbound truck struck the cyclist and the impact threw the crumpled bike onto the sidewalk.

Barton is closed at Weir and traffic is being rerouted. The street will be closed for several hours. The accident reconstruction unit was on its way to the scene at 9:30 a.m.

Watch thespec.com for details.

[SteelTown]

I don't know why the City didn't do something like this for York Boulevard. This kind of setup is what I was trying to push during the Open House. They probably looked at the idea but I imagine the cost was the issue.


My own photo from Ottawa.

[FairHamilton]

http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/633794

John Burman
Construction crews are scheduled to begin resurfacing Dundurn Street South today.

The work – between Hill Street a block south of Main Street West and Aberdeen Avenue – includes removal of all parking on the east side of Dundurn for bicycle lanes.

The work should be completed by the end of October.

City council approved an updated cycling master plan for Hamilton in June. And that includes the bike lanes on Dundurn.

Ward one Councillor Brian McHattie says it may be possible to add three or four parking spaces on the west side of the street.

In an e-mail to area residents, McHattie notes there is significant concern from area merchants and some residential property owners who feel the loss of parking will “result in decreased business, cause more disruption around an already congested area around Earl Kitchener School, and disadvantage motorists with mobility issues who benefit from parking closer to their destination; whether it be church, doctor’s office or business.”

“While I agree that these impacts will occur, I also believe that we need to encourage a cultural shift away from dependency on the private automobile towards cycling as a different mode of transportation,” McHattie said.

The city’s cycling master plan notes bike lanes are a good thing for Dundurn because they will provide connection to the new CP rail trail via Glenside Avenue planned early next year, link to the existing Chedoke rail trail up the escarpment, and provide connections to the downtown via Herkimer Street, Charlton Avenue and Jackson Street.

The plan also says the bike lanes will connect to the McMaster Innovation Park on Longwood Road via the extension of Frid Street via the west end of Charlton Avenue and link to the waterfront over King Street and Longwood Road in 2010.

[adam]

Some good progress for Dundurn! But I don't know why Charlton ave is listed as a bike friendly street. The stretch from St. Joe's to Queen is treacherous. Many vehicles are traveling over 60km/h. Either reduce the speed limit to 50km/h (and enforce it) or give cyclists their own lane.