Transportation

'Sunday Streets' Coming to Hamilton?

By Jason Leach
Published January 22, 2010

Great news: two Sunday Streets events (PDF link) are planned for 2010 in Hamilton. These will be similar to the Ciclovia events that became common in Colombia and have spread to several cities in other countries, including New York, Portland, and San Francisco.

I'm sure the sun will fall out of the sky and the world will come to an end if we actually do this, so stay tuned.

Jason Leach was born and raised in the Hammer and currently lives downtown with his wife and children. You can follow him on twitter.

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By jason (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 10:03:27

just curious, what would readers like to see as the routes for these events?

I think I'd like to see a combo east/west and north/south route.
Perhaps the eastbound lanes of York Blvd from Dundurn to James Street and King from Gage Park/Delta to James Street and then James Street from the Gore to the waterfront. Would help connect the west end and the east end/Gage area to the harbourfront.

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By jason (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 10:51:30

YOU JUST HAD TO! Lol. Can't we ever have a discussion without RHVP coming up?

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By John Neary (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 10:55:32

Godwin's Law, Raise the Hammer Version:

As a discussion on RTH grows longer, the probability of the Red Hill Valley Parkway being mentioned approaches 1. Once the RHVP has been mentioned, no further discussion of the original topic is possible.

Please see this thread for an example of this phenomenon at work. (And yes, I was the culprit that time.)

Comment edited by John Neary on 2010-01-22 09:57:28

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By UrbanRenaissance (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 11:31:17

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By John Neary (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 12:17:05

Trying to unGodwin this thread...

I like Jason's proposal. With regards to the lower city, I would like one of the east-west one-way highways. Just for one day. King would be fine.

Let's not forget the rest of town. Neither King nor Main over the 403 could realistically be closed to car traffic, but perhaps Longwood/Aberdeen could. That would link up to King St. in Westdale.

James Mountain Road would work, although one has to wonder about ambulances and such. Maybe Queen/Garth to the mountain. Or the Sherman Cut. (Hey, then people could climb the Wentworth Stairs without having to wait for traffic to stop!)

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By Meredith (registered) - website | Posted January 22, 2010 at 15:00:50

I'd love to see this on King street for just one day in the central/west end of town,

Perhaps a north/south street more east - what about Ottawa Street for the day? (there may be other streets that work better, but I'm not as familiar with East Hamilton).

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By jason (registered) | Posted January 22, 2010 at 19:13:25

I think the street needs to connect various places and neighbourhoods. Ottawa could work if it were to link to Gage Park or some other destination. King and James seem to be fairly obvious choices, although keep in mind we re-arranged our famous Around the Bay Road Race to Cannon from Main because we couldn't bear to see that freeway closed to traffic for a small portion of one day each year.

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By jason (registered) | Posted January 25, 2010 at 18:12:05

more info here:

http://www.smartcommute.ca/hamilton/open...

Check out the videos from other cities. As a suggestion, I think it would be good for us to email the folks organizing this event and push for James to the be the north/south street from the Gore to the waterfront. Ferguson is only residential and has no shops/cafes etc.... and Main is useless as we all know. King and James seem to be the logical choices. plus, James leads right to Pier 8 and the beautiful waterfront. Imagine folks from the burbs or other parts of Hamilton coming downtown with their bikes and discovering new cafes, restaurants and the beautiful waterfront in downtown Hamilton? You'd be shocked at how many people have never been to the harbourfront or great spots like Acclamation, Harvest Moon, Ola Bakery and Cafe etc..... Cyclovia would be a great chance to show off some of our best urban assets - Gore Park, James North and the waterfront.

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By Orpheum (anonymous) | Posted January 29, 2010 at 16:02:07

Will be attending the APLA Conference in Portland,Oregon at the end of March and I will have first hand knowledge and report back.Last time I was in that City I was impressed by the Free Bus Service in the Downtown perimeter, just like Seatall, and this certainly relieved
traffic with pedestrian only areas.

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By jason (registered) | Posted January 29, 2010 at 22:06:37

free buses, streetcars and LRT in downtown Portland. Have fun! Be sure to snag dinner at The Montage!

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By adam2 (anonymous) | Posted February 23, 2010 at 21:15:36

If this happens, I may actually stay in Hamilton.

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