Raise the Hammer
By Jason Leach
Published July 13, 2012
I've always wondered why James Street North widens to a fast four-lane road once you get north of LIUNA Station, where its streetwall changes from urban storefronts to single family residential.
I guess I'm not the only one who feels this way, because a group of guerrilla street engineers painted bumpouts, bike lanes and parking spots there during the last Open Streets Hamilton event. Check out the video from Environment Hamilton:
I'd love to see this change made permanently from LIUNA to Guise Street.
By CaptainKirk (anonymous)
Posted July 13, 2012 at 08:30:51
That's frickin' hilarious! I love it!
See how easy it is!
Had lunch at the Harbour Diner then, and noticed those lines and thought that was pretty cool. I was wondering, "How did that happen so fast?". Lines looked rough, but my first thought was, "What an immediate improvement."
Man, this is just too funny!
By jason (registered)
Posted July 13, 2012 at 10:46:08
Streets where this cross-section should be implemented immediately:
Herkimer Stuart Barton (from Locke to Victoria) Sherman (from Delaware north) Aberdeen
Any others?? These streets are the proper width, don't need 4-full lanes of traffic, and in many cases already have street parking, but no bike lanes.
By Mahesh_P_Butani (registered) - website
Posted July 13, 2012 at 14:18:12
That will not happen soon Jason, as unfortunately our current brood of traffic engineers are getting off on watching this video which is guaranteed to make anyone giddy:
Driving around Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=end...
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 14, 2012 at 16:52:51
in reply to Comment 79461
By LOL (registered)
Posted July 13, 2012 at 16:16:13
in reply to Comment 79461
By Not quite (anonymous)
Posted July 14, 2012 at 10:20:06
I live in that area and saying it turns into a "fast four lane road" is misleading at best. There is parking allowed on both sides of the street 24/7 which helps to calm traffic. While I agree that there are many streets in Hamilton that need reworking, and not a few of them in the north end, James north is fine as it is. Lets commit dwindling financial resources where they are needed more urgently like say perhaps two way of conversion, particularly on Wellington north and Victoria north. These are both four lane highways that have outlived their usefulness.
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 14, 2012 at 16:55:03
in reply to Comment 79481
By Robert D (anonymous)
Posted July 14, 2012 at 17:52:46
Yesterday I was at Art Crawl, and we were at the corner of James and Cannon, it was crowded as usual. A car came by, driving in the southernmost lane, closest to the curb, speeding, and honking for people (who were standing near the curb) to beware. As he rushed by, the crowd collectively jumped and muttered under their breaths.
At that point I spoke up and proclaimed loudly: "This is why we need more two-way streets!"
There was some more general muttering of agreement.
Seriously, no one should be flying down a street that fast, that close to the curb, when there are that many people around. Had he managed to clip someone at that speed it would have become very bad very quickly.
By mystoneycreek (registered) - website
Posted July 15, 2012 at 13:47:46
in reply to Comment 79489
Seriously, no one should be flying down a street that fast, that close to the curb, when there are that many people around.
Agreed. So then the problem is more the driver than the arena they're imposing their entrenched psychological 'issues' within? (Acknowledging that even for me, a one-way street initiates the 'Zoom-zoom!' gene.)
Bad drivers are bad drivers. Never mind the direction of the street.
I believe we should have regular (every two/five years) road testing and forced driver-ed once you've gotten your license. It still galls me that we can have lost approximately 3,000,000 North Americans since the end of WWII to traffic accidents and we've little more than blinked. Only because it's automobile-based, the sacrosanct industry, that so little has been done. (Yes, I know the current numbers are down, that the trend is less people being sacrificed. They're making safer cars, not safer drivers.)
Think of all the fees that could be generating revenue for livability issues...
Comment edited by mystoneycreek on 2012-07-15 13:49:03
By Robert D (anonymous)
Posted July 16, 2012 at 10:15:26
in reply to Comment 79498
By LOL (registered)
Posted July 16, 2012 at 13:18:49
in reply to Comment 79503
By DrAwesomesauce (registered)
Posted July 15, 2012 at 17:05:33
in reply to Comment 79498
By mystoneycreek (registered) - website
Posted July 15, 2012 at 20:55:54
in reply to Comment 79499
It's not the driver that's the problem; motorised vehicles are dangerous in and of themselves. Full stop.
As are most modern foods. And sedentary activities. And cigarettes.
Oh, no, wait; it requires a person to overindulge in the first two, and indulge in the last one at all in order for the danger to manifest itself.
Full stop.
Period.
I'm just sayin'...
By Doublespresso (anonymous)
Posted July 15, 2012 at 07:55:57
in reply to Comment 79489
Northernmost lane: Curbside parking and HSR stops, turning to James/John/Hughson etc.
Southernmost lane: Turning to James/John/Catherine, etc.
In my experience, the flow traffic tend to stick to the centre lanes. (Maybe not at night when the downtown has substantially drained of workers, admittedly.)
If I were concerned about immediate danger, I would put down $100 on road cones and some flashing LEDs to calm things down. Or call in the TwitterCops' pals.
By Ped Fat (anonymous)
Posted July 18, 2012 at 05:03:10
Open Street looks like proper fun.
Getting lots of anecdotal information. Has anyone got complementary stats to demonstrate the dispersal of incidents over the last 10 years?
Eg:
http://raisethehammer.org/comment/70769
So, yeah: Pedestrian/cyclist injuries/fatalities by dte/time/location, City of Hamilton, 2001-2011. Anyone?
By DowntownInHamilton (registered)
Posted July 18, 2012 at 07:01:57
in reply to Comment 79530
By Tyre (anonymous)
Posted July 30, 2012 at 14:58:16
By highwater (registered)
Posted August 02, 2012 at 14:44:28
They just got some international recognition.