Raise the Hammer

I would suggest that for most people, riding along Burlington Street will wait until the cycle path is extended so that it is part of a network that goes from A to B where people want to go.

For example, I live in the Durand neighbourhood and work near Burlington Street and Parkdale Ave. About a 10 km ride to work. I would love for a cycle path to extend the length of Burlington Street. I would use it every day!

But to use the existing tiny section of cycle path, I would have to ride along the incredibly user-hostile and unpleasant Burlington Street before and after the cycle path. So guess what? I am not going to do that.

I see that "various types of cycling facilities between Wellington Street and Parkdale Avenue (connecting to Windemere Road)" are in the "Projects in the Planning Stage" at:

http://www.hamilton.ca/CityDepartments/P...

If acceptable cycle infrastructure built in compliance with the CROW bicycle traffic design engineering standards is built along Burlington Street between Wellington and Parkdale, then I will delight in using it every day. However, I am not holding my breath.

Speaking of this route...

The intersection of Windemere Road and Woodward Avenue is a good example of how the City of Hamilton consistently botches transportation infrastructure with lousy implementation. This intersection will be a vital part of the connection between the forthcoming Burlington Street cycle infra and the Waterfront Trail. It was recently entirely rebuilt with a large-scale construction project that took months and must have cost a lot of money.

Guess what! It was completely messed up with (among other engineering incompetencies) the requirement for people to lift their bikes over two curbs when making a left turn from Windemere onto the Woodward bike lane. This also denies disability access, currently totally prevented by the curbs.

Fixing this is within the capability of a guerrilla urbanism project. All we have to do is take a concrete saw and create a nice curb cut on the south side of the intersection of Windemere and Woodward. Then take the same saw and cut away enough of the centre curb on Woodward to allow people to make left turns without having to lift their bike over the curb. Then take a can of white paint and create appropriate intersections markings. I rather like the "Ladder" style. Voila! One successful guerrilla urbanism project.

Anyone out there have a concrete saw?

Comment edited by KevinLove on 2013-12-24 00:46:19