Comment 2282

By jason (registered) | Posted November 23, 2006 at 11:38:18

Great article David. Forgive me for being incredibly skeptical, but perhaps a shift in philosophy has occured at Public Works. Time and actions (or lack thereof) will tell.

Jane Jacobs was right. Many cars will disappear. Why would someone jump off the slow moving rush-hour 403 if they knew that Queen, King and Main were proper city streets, not highway extensions. Highway traffic problems are the result of sprawl and 8 out of every 10 drivers being 'Single Occupancy Drivers'. The 403 needs to have a new lane added in each direction on the shoulders for transit and vehicles with 2 people or more in them. Queen and James DON'T need to be able to pick up the slack. Queen needs to function as a proper residential city street and James needs to function as a possibly-vibrant retail/commercial street.

To me the worst part about planning meetings like this one is that we get an expert to come in with snazzy pics from Victoria (why would Hamilton want to be like Victoria? Surely we have a better reputation than they...) and it gets us locals excited to see how easy we could have streets and sidewalks that "look like that" in Hamilton. More trees, bike lanes, street parking etc.... Then we are forced to cover our ears while walking along Main St for the next 10 years while nothing changes. I hope this pedestrian-focus is for real, and that it doesn't take decades to make simple, proper changes.

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