Comment 112913

By mdrejhon (registered) - website | Posted July 20, 2015 at 12:09:59 in reply to Comment 112911

I believe it all depends on variables.

There's sections of Upper James with lots of crossings, and other sections of Upper James that has something like approximately a kilometer between crossings (at least one that includes crosswalk signals).

What defines an acceptable crossing may be different opinions by different people. A crosswalk across 6 lanes of traffic is challenging for many older Hamiltonians, even.

This will be helped by a Google Map overlay marking what are the easy bike crossings and what are not easy. There's some easy crossings, if you're at the right sections, yes. But there's definitely a number that are NOT easy for pedestrians and bikes, especially during peak traffic, if you're not of the jaywalking type. So enough wiggle room for the yeasayers and naysayers. So both parties may be right, depending on where.

(Hmmm, that's a good idea for a future article -- a Google Map showing various levels of quality of pedestrian/bike crossings. With pictures of each. Some brave soul needs to ride along Upper James to do so...)


P.S. Regarding your @RTHStinks website... CAR OWNER HERE. So listen up. :-) It's an interesting counterargument site, but I need to point out... On average, the way Hamilton has done with bikes, have been quite half-hearted for the most, whether one likes RTH or not -- even you'd concede that to a certain, limited extent. Regarding your site -- I'm a driver, I'm a fan of roads, I love the sync'd green lights on Main/King (though I'd give Main/King 1-wayness up for 2-way + vibrant Lower City businesses + safer pedestrian/biking + RHVP/LINC 6-lane expansion + LRT). We definitely need more cycle infrastructure and I agree with slowing down my car to improve local business with 2-way Main/King. If you've regularly visited Minneapolis, you already know what I mean. Empty bike lanes that only gradually filled up when they connected to each other correctly, and bypassed dangerous crossings without long detours, etc. Even if we won't ever be as copahagenized as copahagen (and probably should not be), I know we can do a lot better without inconveniencing motorists too much at all. Us new generation aren't as interested in car ownership (this stat is borne out increasingly -- it is not as sexy as the '57 Chevy era of teens really wanting a car, drive-in era and rollerskate-waitresses era, as much as it used to be); we are committed houseowners, new Toronto residents, but stubbornly 0.5-car average (got car, gave up car for 8 years, got car again, could give it up again). I have travelled out of Canada a lot, so I get to see the sights and bike infrastructure improvements in other cities that turn tumbwheel-dusty bike lanes eventually into busier bike lanes. I see all the half-hearted work that Hamilton has done. We don't need to get rid of roads for cars but we need to fix the half-heartedness of our bike network compared to what I've seen in places like Minneapolis. You've seen the GIF animation ( http://streets.mn/2014/06/16/chart-of-th... ) of their "Hamilton-to-semi-Copahagen" style progress already. You know, we don't have to fully de-optimize the auto from Hamilton to at least make it a LOT more friendly to people (bikes/peds/people). We expect to live out the rest of our lives here in Lower City Hamilton as we love the city, as $5K propertytaxpayers in Lower City, it does give us a say in our city's future direction (and that is why we voted Matthew Green!). Enough of us now exist that we shook a little Old Boy's Club -- a little.

Minneapolis is still very car-friendly, you see, as an American city, as you observe visiting in the 90s, 2000s, and recently. But hands down -- no contest -- Minneapolis has done wonders with their bike network. It's a good case study how a city (like Hamilton) can do better with bikes, without frustrating auto users too much. They've managed to integrate bike stuff far better than we have, rather than the local half-hearted (albiet slowly & increasingly appreciated) moves by the city like the Cannon bike lanes (for the first time, saw more bikes riding on Cannon than cars driving on Cannon, at 10:48pm Tuesday night last week) -- still sometimes tumbleweed moments but it seems not as many during this summer as last. Next five years should be better, especially if we successfully petition for full protected-bike-lane extension to Gage Park. Just because one of us said an auto-free utopia, doesn't mean we're of all the same mindset.

My driving on Cannon has not slowed noticeably thanks to giving up a lane to bikes, so as an auto-owner, yet I'm pro-Cannon-bike-lanes (and knowing it takes time to be really utilized), knowing the Minneapolis auto-friendly bike-friendly city example. We're a diverse mindset here, including lots of realistic minds.

Comment edited by mdrejhon on 2015-07-20 12:58:10

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