Raise the Hammer

A. Smith - I'm not sure I understand how your comment relates to the question of two-way street conversion. Just who are you preaching to, exactly? People who most likely own a computer, have access to the internet, and do not, as you put it, "accept government handouts"? Your last two sentences make no sense. I've tried and cannot make head nor tail of them.

While the issue of two-way conversion cannot be answered conclusively, I would agree with Vancouverite - no question, the best streets to be on there are two-way. My personal favorite parts of Hamilton are either two-way, or very limited one-way: International Village on King Street, for instance, only has two lanes, James North is two-way, Locke is two-way.

I would say that science (loosely-speaking) is clearly on the side of converting streets to two-way, or drastically reducing the number of lanes on some of Hamilton's one-way streets. I agree with many of the above posts - I will frequently go out of my way to avoid walking down York, Main, King West past Queen, etc. The air smells like exhaust, and I get this eerie feeling every time I see a wall of traffic coming at me that I'm taking my life in my hands. Seriously - a five-lane road going one way that isn't a freeway? Does anybody know if that has ever worked well in any city?

Given the enormous costs involved in changing the 403 ramp orientation around, I would be surprised if Hamilton had the money to commit to converting Main and King. Better, I think, to keep them both one way and knock them down to 3 lanes apiece (with LRT, a bike lane, and a non-suicide-width sidewalk).

Imagine that - with LRT coming, etc., I might even consider paying Hamilton a visit at some point in the future after I leave this fall for the wider world! I'm afraid, however, that while the city has many great restaurants, etc., there currently isn't much to offer the sightseeing tourist. Speaking from personal experience, my first impression of the city was from being dropped off on York outside the Farmer's market. It took several months for my impression of the city to fundamentally change. I'll definitely be keeping in touch with local events after I leave, but the incentive to come back will simply not be there if nothing much has changed.