Comment 13062

By Jon Dalton (anonymous) | Posted October 19, 2007 at 11:59:26

I predict that the Red Hill will be a big clusterfuck 10 years from now and Centennial will be even worse than today. People will take Centennial in attempt to bypass traffic jams on the Red Hill. It will be used primarily to serve low density housing to carry commuters out of the city to jobs between here and Toronto. It will also connect the new box development at QEW and Centennial with all the low density housing and box centres on the east mountain quite efficiently. With so many 'amenities' along this corridor, the east will develop further as its own entity and its residents will be less inclined to venture downtown.

The Red Hill was made 'necessary' through decades of poor planning, and it will serve to propagate more of the same.

I don't disagree with Frank's argument that an alternative throughfare to the Main-King expressway is needed, but I fail to see how the Red Hill Expressway addresses any traffic issues relevant to the city centre. It is faster to use the Linc and Upper James to travel downtown, then it is to go through the lower city. We do have to provide road service on par with surrounding communities in order to attract business, but this can't come at the expense of even half decent public transit access. The Red Hill might open up land attractive to new business, but this area is still a 2 hour bus ride away for many people. Granted that many people will always prefer to drive, we at least want an alternative for those who can't or prefer not to, and in the near future, driving will be less feasible for many more people.

In summary, I believe the effect of the Red Hill will be the funneling of workers out of Hamilton to industries elsewhere, and the growth of parasitic retail chains that present a net loss to our economy.

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