Time for Main Street in Hamilton to be a two-way street, says city councillors’ motion

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Published May 9, 2022 at 9:51 pm

Days after the 10th pedestrian death of the year in Hamilton, Wards 1 and 3 Couns. Maureen Wilson and Nrinder Nann have shared a draft of their motion that calls for restoring two-way traffic on Main Street in Hamilton.

The two lower-city representatives said they would author the motion in the aftermath of a death last week on the major west-to-eat artery whose design enables up to five lanes of one-way traffic to spped through the city. On May 5, DARTS bus driver Sherri D’Amour was killed on the day after her 49th birthday when she was struck after stopping to pick up a passenger. A sedan, driven by a 75-year-old woman, jumped a curb and hit D’Amour and then hit a house.

Wilson and Nann’s notice of motion will be introduced at the city council meeting on Wednesday morning (May 11). A group called SAFE Hamilton: Streets are for Everyone, are scheduled to hold a demonstration at Hamilton City Hall at 9:30 a.m. that day.

The motion, for converting Main Street to a two-way roadway “as an immediate safety intervention.” Beyond that, it calls for further public consultation and planning to develop a longer-term vision. There is also a resolution that would call for a reassessment of all of Hamilton’s remaining one-way streets.

The councillors’ prologue to their recommendation notes that Hamilton has had 70 traffic fatalities over the last five years. Twenty-six of the people who lost their lives were pedestrians, respresenting more than 37 per cent of the death toll. The councillors also note that Hamilton Police Service have noted that both Main and King streets must be redesigned in order “to address the sustained pattern of fatalities and injuries.”

In its entirety, the resolutions in the motion include:

  • “That (City of Hamilton) staff identify actions that can be taken immediately to improve safety for all users along Main Street and King Street such as expanded and enhanced pedestrian space, temporary lane reductions, removal of parking restrictions,, reduced speed limit, synchronized traffic signal options, no right turn on red restrictions at intersections, and leading pedestrian intervals”;
  • “That the conversion of Main Street from one-way to two-way be approved as an immediate safety intervention and that an implementation plan be developed for the conversion of Main Street from one-way to two-way that integrates a Complete Streets redesign that will enable safer use for all people who need to use the streets including public transit riders, pedestrians, motorists and cyclists and that these spaces also contribute to climate resilience by providing shade trees and permeable surfaces”;
  • “That staff be directed to undertake engagement with the public and advisory committees on the medium- and long-term vision of Main Street that leverages a Complete Streets, EDI (equity, diversion and inclusion) and Climate Change approach;
  • “That staff consult with Metrolinx and the (Ontario) Ministry of Transportation on the implications of the implementation plan on LRT and Highway 403 interchanges”;
  • “That staff report back in early 2023 with an implementation plan for the two-way conversion of Main Street that includes an assessment of costs, construction timing and resource requirements”;
  • “That the city retain a consultant to prepare the implementation plan for Main Street funded from Vision Zero Priorities Capital Budget at an upset limit of $400,000”;
  • “That staff update and reassess all remaining one-way streets in the City of Hamilton utilizing the street conversion framework identified in the Trasnsportation Master Plan and report back to council.”

A Complete Streets review involves working to identify trouble spots where traffic calming measures, such as speed cushions, could increase safety.

The elected leadership in Hamilton voted unanimously for a Vision Zero action plan in 2019. That same year, it also declared a climate emergency.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles that burn fossil fuels, especially when drivers accelerate, is a significant component of mitigating climate change. The coming conversion to electrical vehicles (EVs), which is at least a decade away, is expected to eliminate over half of GHG emissions from private cars, but not all.

The roots of Hamilton having an abundance of one-way street trace to the middle of the 20th century. The fateful vote to change major downtown streets to one-way occurred in July 1956. That included King and Main Streets becoming one-way thoroughfares. But it is often credited, or blamed, with hurting downtown neighbourhoods and businesses over the ensuing decades.

As the website Raise the Hammer put it in 2013, “Hamilton’s one-way streets have been remarkably successful at carrying traffic at high speeds across the lower city. Unfortunately, they have paid for that success at the devastating cost of neighbourhood vitality in large swaths of the lower city.”

Perspectives on restoring two-way traffic have changed in the last quarter-century. For instance, the rebirth of James Street North occurred after it was restored as a two-way street in the early 2000s.

In last year’s collision report, six of the seven most dangerous intersections in Hamilton involved either King or Main street. That included both streets’ intersections with Dundurn Street South.

King St. is where some of the light-rail transit line in Hamilton will eventually be built. King narrows to two lanes in the heart of downtown and is also on an incline as drivers head west toward Highway 403.

Main Street, comparably, is often likened to a highway extension. Off-ramp traffic from both sides of the major highway flows on to a five-lane street that slopes downhill toward downtown. While King is tapered, Main remains several lanes wide toward the east end.

The Hamilton Spectator was first to report that D’Amour was the DARTS driver who died on the job in the collision on May 5.

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