Cannon Street Bike Lanes To Cost $1.6 Million And City Plans To Close More Traffic Lanes
The city of Hamilton has been implementing an aggressive transit transformation plan in recent years. In partnership with Metrolinx, a planned light rail transit route along King street has been moving forward with the installation of a trial bus only lane.
Bike lanes are also being implemented and upgraded. The bike lane on Main street west was upgraded with a cement divider near and on the the 403 highway overpass and white plastic pylons in other areas. A bike lane on York Boulevard was also created.
Last week the city approve a plan to create a two way bike lane on Cannon street (from Sherman St. to Hess St.). City estimates show a cost of $1.6 million over three years to create the new lanes and $242,990 per year to operate the lane (Maintenance, snow removal, etc.).
The city also announced a plan to cut excess traffic lanes in a bid to cut back expenses. Citing that upkeep costs for each kilometer of a traffic lane is 12,000 per year. Example area’s of where the lane cuts could happen are: Burlington Street, Wellington and Wentworth, the Claremont Access, and the Sherman Cut.
Wentworth Street at Main Street
City reports state that the lanes can been replaced with bike lanes or extended yards for properties along the streets.
Improving road systems and diversifying transportation is this city is sorely needed. But the people of Hamilton must make sure that city hall is taking a logical approach. The plan being implemented now, has several big problems.
LRT and the Bus Lane
When the one year pilot project of the King street bus lane was started seven months ago. Downtown stores and the people living in the area had mixed feelings about it. But after a increase in grid lock along the route, it did not take long for that to change. Drivers stopped using the street, opting to use other side streets. Which has frustrated drivers and downtown business owners. Only a few short months ago, several business’s had fliers that supported the bus lane in they’re store windows. Those fliers are now gone and nearly every store front along the bus lane have fliers that say “no more bus lane”.
The paint on the road that identified that bus only lane has already worn off and drivers are no longer paying attention to it. Driving in the lane at will.
Overall the bus lane pilot has been a complete failure.
Bike Lanes
The bike lanes currently in the downtown and west end of the city are only realistically usable for a few months out of the year and even when the weather conditions are good for usage, They are not heavily used. Usage is low to moderate. This shows that there is not a high demand for the dedicated bike lanes.
The Cannon street bike lane is being pushed through because a group collected a petition with 2500 signatures from all around the city. The residents who live along the proposed section of Cannon Street have never been consulted by the city about it and when city councilor Brad Clarke motioned for a 30 day consultation period with residents. It was voted down by a count of 10-3.
One area that is not being discussed at any length is the fact that Cannon street is a main artery for industrial traffic. The street see’s heavy usage by transport trucks and delivery trucks. cutting lanes could cause those drivers to start using more populated areas.
Cutting out of more traffic lanes
Many of the example area’s see heavy amounts of traffic. Wellington and Wentworth both see high traffic volumes at rush hours. Take a stroll along Wellington at 4pm and try to imagine it with one less lane.
The city is saying that they could save $12,000 per kilometer of each lane removed. But if they are replaced with bike lanes will there truly be an savings?
The Cannon street bike lane carries an estimated cost of $242,990 per year to maintain. The length of the route is just over three kilometers. By doing some basic math you can see that as a traffic lane, the cost would be around $36,000 per year. As a bike lane the cost is over $200,000 more than that.
The other option of extending property owners yards would mean higher property taxes for them.
As I stated above, improving transportation in Hamilton is badly needed. But at what cost? Can this city afford more blunders by short sided politicians?
