City Council’s decision had its desired effect downtown. Photo Credit: Pexels.
A report from city staff shows that City Council’s 2023 downtown truck ban has significantly reduced truck traffic in the core, but has caused a large increase in truck volume on the Red Hill Valley Parkway and Lincoln Alexander Parkway.
Data shows that heavy truck volume (five axels or more) on Wellington Street has decreased by 86 per cent since 2023, with a 47.8 per cent decrease on Victoria Avenue as well.
Heavy truck volume has also decreased on Centennial Parkway during that time with a change of -15.4 per cent.
As a result, heavy truck volume has increased dramatically on the Red Hill Valley Parkway (+87.5 per cent) and the Lincoln Alexander Parkway (+68.6 per cent).
Hamilton Mountain has also seen a moderate increase in heavy truck volume during that time with traffic on Rymal Road up 17.3 per cent and numbers up 4.0 per cent on Upper James Street.
The downtown truck ban was enacted to improve community liveability and reduce noise and environmental pollution levels.
Of note, between 2019 and 2022 there were 148 collisions involving trucks including three with pedestrians and cyclists.
In terms of air quality, city staff were hoping to improve environmental health in the downtown as a result of the truck ban, but the opposite appears to have occurred with air quality worsening between 2023 and 2024.
Noise pollution, which staff were also hoping would decrease, has increased as well within the downtown and other areas of Hamilton.
Staff write that there has been a 7.8 per cent increase in noise on King Street, 7.7 per cent increase on Main Street and 9.7 per cent increase on Victoria Avenue despite the truck ban.
The areas seeing the largest increase in noise were Garner Road at Miller Drive (35.2 per cent increase) and Nikola Tesla Parkway/Burlington Street at the Woodward Overpass (22.7 per cent increase).
The report also notes that truck traffic is concentrated in several high intensity clusters at designated employment areas, along Burlington Street, Hamilton’s two parkways, and the provincial highway network.
Staff also note that vessel activity at the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority has continued to grow, with a nine per cent increase between 2022 and 2023.
Of note, staff write that future action is needed to “continue to advance planning for capacity improvements on the Lincoln Alexander Parkway and Red Hill Valley Parkway.”
Indeed, the Lincoln Alexander Parkway, which was completed in 1997, sees an approximate average of 88,000 vehicles per day, while the Red Hill Valley Parkway, completed in 2007, sees 92,000 vehicles.
Both parkways are reportedly operating at or above capacity during morning and afternoon rush hour.
A Feasibility Study was initiated in 2020 to assess whether or not the Red Hill Valley Parkway and Lincoln Alexander Parkway can be widened.
City transportation staff were recently directed to report to Council in quarter one of 2025 on the technical work completed to date on the Feasibility Study.
With the truck traffic increase on the parkways, the case for widening appears to be bolstered as well.
Council also passed a motion in December 2023 to have staff begin discussions with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to discuss the possibility of uploading the two parkways to the province to operate, but there have been no new developments yet on that front.
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.
