Raise the Hammer

Here is a photograph of the alley directly behind the business of the authors of this article.

Interestingly enough, this business provides a service that I currently need. "Specialty areas include historic window and sash repair..." My 1885 home has the traditional pulley and counterweight system for opening and closing the windows, many of which need repairs.

Back to a consideration of transportation...

It is interesting to consider the current uses of this particular alley. For example, there is at least one business, a bakery, whose entrance is onto the alley. I doubt that this business would object to more customers riding on by!

As we see in the photograph linked to above, there is not a lot of vegetation in this alley. If anyone is interested in supporting vegetation that attracts pollinators such as bees and butterflies, I would commend the fourth option for Barton Street. This option is a conventional protected cycle lane, with flowerbeds being used for the protective barrier. For an example, see this video. This provides for a far greater amount of pollinator attractive plants than the comparatively much smaller amount of vegetation in the existing alley.

The City of Hamilton has existing projects for pollinator attractive plants. One of these projects is in the much larger right-of-way for The Pipeline Trail. This also provides for a far, far greater amount of pollinator attractive plants than the comparatively much smaller amount of vegetation in the Barton alley.

The big disadvantage of the Barton alley/park route is that it is only 1.3 km long from Wentworth Street to Lottridge Street. Additional infrastructure is needed for the rest of Barton Street. However, it has no less than five intersecting North-South alleys that can provide a comprehensive safe cycling network for this part of Hamilton.

These alleys are valuable property that belongs to all of the citizens of Hamilton. I believe that they have great potential. We only need to clean them up and use them.