Staff to deliver a feasibility report next year.
Hamilton’s Main Street, a five-lane one-way artery through downtown which takes traffic east, may soon undergo a number of design changes after a motion drafted by city councillors Nrinder Nann and Maureen Wilson passed 12-2 last week.
Among the key points in the motion is a directive for city staff to draft a plan to convert Main Street to two-way traffic and to report back to City Council in 2023. The plan will then need approval from next term’s Council in 2023 (the municipal election in October 2022 will inevitably lead to new faces around the table).
Some Hamiltonians were left confused, thinking that construction would be starting right away to convert the street to two-way traffic, however, that is not the case. Any conversion would take significant planning especially in the area where Highway 403 converges with Main Street, an area that is under the jurisdiction of Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.
However, other more immediate measures were also listed in the Council motion, which is spurred by the higher than usual number of pedestrian deaths along the Main Street corridor, most recently the death of a female DARTS driver who was standing on the sidewalk along Main Street when she was struck and killed.
Those measures include the possibility of changing green light synchronization. Currently, if drivers time their trip correctly, they can hit green lights along a considerable stretch all the way from Dundurn Street to the Delta. Changing the synchronization so that drivers instead get stopped at the occasional red light along the route would theoretically slow cars down.
The change to the green light set-up could take place within the next couple weeks depending on what city staff decides.
Main Street was specifically targeted in Nann and Wilson’s motion because of the high number of crashes and pedestrian incidents along the corridor. Four of the city’s ten worst intersections for crashes are along Main Street including two of the worst five for pedestrian injuries and deaths.
One of the key reasons why Main Street is considered dangerous is because the five-lane layout allows cars to swerve in and out of traffic in an attempt to dangerously get ahead of other vehicles.
Other changes are also possible in the near future including bump outs on curb lanes to narrow the street and reserve curbs for parking and signs banning right turns on red lights.
As for the switch to two-way traffic, a number of complications will have to be worked through. From the 403 interchange to discussions with Metrolinx on how the switch would impact the LRT planned along King St, the more major changes to the roadway are still rather far off.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Kevin Geenen reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He is a regular contributor with The Hamilton Independent and has also been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, Niagara Independent, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. He is known for Hamilton crime updates and social media news graphics. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal from Governor General David Johnston. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. In March 2022, Kevin started working as an Office Administrator at RE/MAX. Kevin’s journalism work continues to be independent of his other jobs.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
