Raise the Hammer

Although Ryan has done a good job, I thought I should clarify what I meant by the $18 million road "just appearing".

I didn't mean that the road was not carefully planned and justified by future traffic projections to support anticipated future development.

What I meant was that Hamilton's Traffic Planning regime reliably maintains and builds new infrastructure for motorists year upon year, with little need for resident campaigns. And this infrastructure is extremely expensive, both to build and to maintain.

In contrast, infrastructure improvements for pedestrians and cyclists (and transit) often requires years of sustained campaigning by local residents, backed up by the local councillor, and even then it is often opposed every step of the way by the traffic department up to and including implementation.

What's worse, about ten years ago, with no public consultation, the traffic department decided to remove the signs for every pedestrian crosswalk not at a signalized intersection (i.e. those marked with signs and painted lines, but not at a traffic light or stop sign). This was because they thought these crossings would open the city to lawsuits. The net result was the loss of hundreds of pedestrians crossings and much higher risk for a few years since the painted lines were simply allowed to fade, not actually removed from the road.

[Under the Highway Traffic Act every intersection is deemed to be a crosswalk defined by the extensions of the sidewalks, although very few Ontario motorists know this and know that must yield to pedestrians crossing at such unmarked crosswalks.]

As Ryan points out, the demand for a pedestrian crossing at Aberdeen and Kent in Ward 1 goes back to before the Kirkendall traffic study in 2005. This relatively inexpensive infrastructure was needed to support existing, not projected, pedestrian traffic but was nevertheless actively blocked for years.

Similarly, two-way conversion of downtown streets has been stalled for years despite the fact that the projects were actually improved by council. Another councillor-backed resident led campaign is under way in Wards 1, 2 and 3 to try to get the approved conversions done, and do the assessment and planning for future conversions.

The basic problem is that infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists and transit is still seen as something "alternative" or "nice to have", while infrastructure for motorists is treated as essential and normal. It would be nice to see all kinds of traffic treated seriously and the interests of all road users considered equally important no matter how they choose to travel.

Why does our current system reliably produce more multi-million dollar new roads and road upgrades year upon year, while basic pedestrian infrastructure like crosswalks and wider sidewalks is extremely difficult to get built?

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2013-03-30 20:02:06