The City of Hamilton will be rebuilding the banking on a stretch of the Red Hill Valley Parkway to make the road safer.
The decision comes after a Design Review of a curve on the Red Hill that runs from Greenhill Avenue to King Street found that the “superelevation” in some areas of the curve is below the 6 per cent recommended by the 2017 Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Geometric Design Guide guidelines.
Superelevation refers to the banking of a road curve where the outer edge is raised higher than the inner edge to help vehicles navigate curves more safely.
Superelevation is determined based on design speed and the curve radius of a roadway. A steeper superelevation supports a higher operating speed.
In response to a recommendation from Justice Herman J. Wilton-Siegel as part of the Red Hill Valley Inquiry, the City of Hamilton retained AECOM Canada ULC to undertake an investigation and use 2019 LiDAR remote sensing technology data provided by the city to analyze the roadway geometry.
Even though some areas of the Red Hill between King Street and Greenhill Avenue appear to have a superelevation below 6 per cent, AECOM maintains that there is “no immediate or imminent safety risk to drivers, staff, or the public.”
Nevertheless, AECOM recommended that the city reconstruct the Red Hill curve to make the roadway safer, a project that carries an estimated cost between $4 million and $5 million.
The full cost of the project will be incorporated into the 2026 Capital Budget.
There have also been questions about whether or not the curve radius of that same section of the Red Hill is too tight.
Since the Red Hill was built, TAC Design Guidelines adjusted the minimum radius of curves on roads like the parkway from 420 metres to 440 metres.
However, AECOM notes that “changing the curve radius for the roadway to meet current design guidelines would require a realignment of the road and is not proposed at this time. It may be considered in a future capital rehabilitation project.”
The Red Hill was closed between Mud Street and King Street on July 6 for 12 hours to allow survey crews to complete a detailed topographic survey of the roadway.
A detailed design is required before rehabilitation work can begin, which includes surveying, geotechnical investigation, and repaving design work.
The Transportation Division is also reportedly continuing to “review speed limits and signage in the area to identify any interim safety enhancements.”
The city says that enhancements have the “goal of reducing the likelihood of traffic incidents and improving overall road user safety while longer-term solutions are assessed.”
Since 2019, the City of Hamilton has repaved the Red Hill, reduced the speed limit from 90 km/h to 80 km/h, enhanced pavement markings and signage, and installed additional guide rails, all in an effort to improve safety.
The city also continues to make progress on the other action items recommended by the Red Hill Inquiry. There were 36 action items in total.
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.
