Raise the Hammer

Sorry if I wasn't too clear but I didn't mean to imply you are defending needless driving. I was saying that you were defending the wrong project in terms of your strong defense of the red hill expy.

My main point is that all of this energy spent touting the benefits of red hill is wasted. My personal opinion is that there could have been some much better ways to spend money BEFORE resorting to building a new overpriced highway:

-Improve pedestrian/cycling services -Improve rapid transit on the mountain -Bring rail back to the core -expand GO through the tunnel and beyond into east hamilton -improve all transit options throughout the entire city

THESE are the projects you should be spending your energy defending (or promoting). You are correct in saying that car use is here to stay until oil prices go up enough and the transit system is built properly.

So why are we waiting? Why are we wasting our time investing in an infrastructure that is ultimately doomed? Why didn't we START by giving people lots of options OTHER than their car? Options that are much cheaper than building highways? Why did we choose the most expensive "experiment" in reducing congestion? And one that has proven time and time again to NOT WORK. Have you been to Brampton? They have build highways up the wazoo and it's the most horrific place to drive in the entire country. None of this is a surprise to anyone. If it was 1950, I could see an argument for the expressway, but all of this got underway fairly recently, and it is a colossal waste of money.

We need to be giving people options and getting them out of their cars, not building to accommodate them "for now"... When will "for now" ever end? The sooner the better in my opinion...

If we keep following this path we will end up paving over all of our land and buildings and creating a desolate wasteland that will be 100% useless within our lifetimes...