Raise the Hammer

interesting stuff! this issue has finally made it. exciting.

A few points. 1. There is PLENTY of space on Queenston from Eastgate to Red Hill area for transit-only lanes. The centre turning lane is almost 2-lanes wide. The city could slightly expand the roadway into the little median/sidewalk ROW and have transit lanes along both curbs with 2-lanes each way for traffic. No centre turning lane.

1. I don't like the ROW idea for King/Main. Put LRT both ways on Main on the north side of the street...then have 2 eastbound car lanes, and the south curb reserved for parking/loading.

2. Alternatively, if they insist on keeping transit on both streets instead of 2-way, put the LRT lane on the NORTH side of Main and SOUTH side of King with 2 traffic lanes and then the loading/parking on the right curb (south curb of Main, north curb of King). Here's my reasoning for this: you don't want people parking/loading having to cross the transit only lane all the time. The ROW for transit needs to be as exclusive as possible. Both BRT and LRT vehicles now come equipped with doors that open on both sides of the vehicle. There's no requirement to have the transit on the 'right side' of the road like we currently do. Secondly, if they keep this 1-way design it eliminates the need for people to cross both King and Main in order to catch the train in the opposite direction. It moves the lines closer to each other, even though they are on separate streets.

Closing James Mtn Road to all but transit/emerg vehicles is a great idea. Let's not tunnel - do BRT up the escarpment and LRT east/west. Plus, LRT could eventually go up the escarpment via the Claremont Access.

Finally, they need to look into the smaller, modern streetcar vehicles we've mentioned on RTH in the past.

http://www.raisethehammer.org/index.asp?...

Modern streetcars are lighter and slightly smaller than full sized LRT vehicles. The construction costs are much lower and they wouldn't have issues with height on King St at Summers Lane.

This is an historic moment for Hamilton. The more people involved the better. If we make this decision properly, we could set ourselves up for many years and decades of revival and growth. LRT can do all of that, and more. Buses can't.