Raise the Hammer

Do you really believe that trucks are leaving the QEW and driving all the way through the city to get to the 403 or vice versa? A quick search of google maps shows me that it actually takes about 5 minutes longer to go through the city than around and that's by car not truck.

Bro, don't get me started. LOL. This is EXACTLY what they do! I've followed several trucks over the year and so far, not ONCE have I followed a truck on York Blvd whose final destination wasn't the NE industrial district down by the QEW/Burlington St area. I've noticed a dramatic drop-off in transport trucks on York during road construction by the market. I'm hoping the new two-way street will be slow enough to keep them on the highways (I presume that's where they've all gone) when construction is done.

Further to my earlier point about King St being two-way, if you read the old Spec articles from the 50's, downtown businesses were livid that their west end customer base could no longer come in on King St to shop. It can't be understated (I don't mean to offend anyone) that Hamilton's most affluent population lies west of James Street. Think of the demographics from James St all the way to Dundas and Ancaster. Making King two-way suddenly makes life a whole lot easier for these folks to drive downtown. No wonder businesses were livid in the 50's. Hamilton's most affluent residents were effectively shut-out from King and James, our main retail streets and instead tossed onto the Main St Expressway with no retail and no reason to stop. I'm fine with LRT running in mixed traffic through the International Village in order to maintain street parking through there. Curbside parking could also be added on the south curb of King Street even with a 20 metre right of way. I would recommend putting the parking on the south curb so folks coming in from the aforementioned west end could have easy street parking access on King Street. Two-way King, Main, Cannon and Wilson is such a nobrainer I can't believe we even need to have this discussion again.