Reducing traffic lanes in Strathcona

Some Hamilton streets could be shrinking. A new city of Hamilton staff proposal is calling for changes to the Strathcona neighbourhood that would make streets more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. But it would also mean cutting out traffic lanes on some of the city’s busiest arteries. And as Melissa Raftis tells us, that has some motorists concerned about congestion.

Some Hamilton streets could be shrinking. A new city of Hamilton staff proposal is calling for changes to the Strathcona neighbourhood that would make streets more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. But it would also mean cutting out traffic lanes on some of the city’s busiest arteries. And as Melissa Raftis tells us, that has some motorists concerned about congestion.

For cyclist Alexander Pravdivtsev, sharing the streets with motorists is a way of life. But he’d welcome his own space: “In general, I can ride bike in hamilton, but if I had bike lane it would be a lot better.”

Hamilton city staff are proposing separated bike lanes on some Strathcona roads including extending existing lanes on York Boulevard to run between Queen and Dundurn.

Kyle Creelman is another cyclist: “I’m always in favour of them as you can see. I’m crossing the street on foot just to get to the store over here. The more the merrier.”

Councillor Brian McHattie says he hopes the move will encourage more people to ride their bikes: “We’re too often accused of having bike lanes to nowhere is what some people call them, where we have bike lanes on one section of the street and you’re riding along and all of a sudden “poof” they’re gone.”

In order to accommodate more cyclists, the city would eliminate one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction on York. Another part of the proposal calls for the removal of one lane on Main Street to widen the sidewalks for pedestrians.

McHattie: “Traffic staff and a consultant working on the study have done the traffic modeling and they don’t see any potential problems.”

While Councillor Lloyd Ferguson says the plan is fine for smaller streets, he has some reservations about Hamilton’s busier roads: “We’re enjoying a significant economic development uptake now and when I talk to investors one of the key drivers that causes them to choose hamilton is uncongested roads.”

And so do some drivers like Shaun Manion: “It’s already tight on the roads as it is. So trying to make less lanes would really suck for that.”

And soon council will have to decide whether crowding motorists is worth the extra space for cyclists.

Tuesday in planning committee, it was decided the lane reductions on Main Street would be deferred to the Hamilton-wide transportation plan because the road services the whole city. But the York Boulevard traffic bike lane expansion will be brought to council.