Raise the Hammer

This is very good.

Why not all the way to Sherman? And maybe the city could narrow it to three lanes and give the Landsdale residents their front gardens back. The front doors on some of those houses look like they must open into the street.

Because it's in Ward 3...

Seriously though, the Community Improvement Area extends to Victoria, so that's what the city views as important.

But as you state; "Why not all the way to Sherman?", because there is no need for that relatively short 1 way section.

Come on staffers & bpoliticians; Why not?

Community Improvement must stop at Victoria!

Okay, while I am happy to hear that we're getting this step in the right direction, I have to say I'm not entirely impressed with the pace of converting Hamilton's neighborhoods back to 2-way.

As I've said before - there are benefits to having things like Main and King be 1-way. I mean, regardless of whether you think it's worthwhile, you have to admit there are good reasons for these urban highways.

But why are all these other roads still 1-way? Would a two way Charlton really destroy their traffic pattern so much?

The big problem with a two way Charlton is parking; it's not wide enough for two way traffic AND street parking.

Drive up on a Sunday morning when people are at church and you'll see what I mean. Plus some sections are already too narrow as a one way with street parking like around the HAAAA grounds.

I'd rather see this new design have street parking on both, or one side of the street instead of 4 full lanes 24-7, but whatever. I can't complain.
This is the Hammer - King St has been reduced to 3 lanes from Queen-Locke for the last year and I still don't think anyone has had to hit their brakes flying through there. Rest assured though, we'll put it back to 5 lanes as soon as construction is done. All in all, a step in the right direction for this hood.

I live near the recently converted York / Wilson now and have had the chance to experience it more regularly. It is a small improvement from a navigability point of view, but as an improvement to the look and feel, perception of safety and walkability, it sucks. Traffic calming is (intentionally) minimal, and the turning lanes make it look like a suburban road.

The way they're treating York and Wilson, and essentially the way they treated James and John South, seems like a good argument against advocacy for two way conversion - if this is what we get, why bother? I'm sick of arguing with people over one way / two way who essentially want the same thing (safe streets), but they can't get past these terrible examples.

Maybe we should start the debate by asking for safe, pedestrian friendly streets. Asking for two ways is almost like giving them an easy way out.

There have been some tangible benefits to conversion, though I entirely agree that traffic calming is desperately needed and that these one-and-a-halfway streets aren't a real solution to our problems.

Because hardly anyone drives west on Wilson St, the north sidewalk feels much safer (although it still isn't a pleasant place to be.) Similarly, Wilson is now a good westbound bike route.

Finally, connectivity for motorists is much improved. When I drive to my house at Mary and Kelly I no longer have to detour through a residential block on Catharine St. to circle back to Mary if I'm approaching from the north or east.

It will be interesting to see what your thoughts are about the conversion a year from now.