[Chris R.]

Is anyone aware when the redesigned redesign report or documents will be made public or reported to council? If I recall they had discussed a 12 month turnaround, so perhaps this fall, but I wasn't able to find anything written in any of the media reports.

I may take the time to review the minutes of the meeting where there was a discussion of an accelerated timeline.

Edit: Was able to find it in the Feb 20, 2024 Public Works Committee. Item 2:

That staff be directed to undertake an accelerated project delivery approach as outlined in Report PW23074(a)/PED23248(a), funding for the implementation be referred for inclusion in the 2025 capital budget at a value of $26,492,000 with a target timeline to complete detailed design by Q3 2025/Q4 2025, commence construction Q4 2025, and target a project completion date of Q4 2027/Q1 2028;

 

[innsertnamehere]

Not sure.

The City has posted the tender for the reconstruction of Wilson St from Victoria to Sherman, as well as Sherman from Wilson to Burlington St however.

The street will see a reduction from 4 eastbound lanes to two lanes, one in each direction and a small handful of left-turn lanes at major intersections. It also includes a significant amount of curb extensions, street trees, etc.

Will likely be extremely transformatative.

Sherman will recieve a similar modification, including two lanes, one in each direction, and street trees in a grassed median between Wilson and Cannon. North of Barton it will remain in it's current configuration however, just resurfaced.

example:

The street trees on Sherman:

And a reconfigured intersection with Cannon:

 

[Chris R.]

Not sure.

The City has posted the tender for the reconstruction of Wilson St from Victoria to Sherman, as well as Sherman from Wilson to Burlington St however.

The street will see a reduction from 4 eastbound lanes to two lanes, one in each direction and a small handful of left-turn lanes at major intersections. It also includes a significant amount of curb extensions, street trees, etc.

Will likely be extremely transformatative.

Sherman will recieve a similar modification, including two lanes, one in each direction, and street trees in a grassed median between Wilson and Cannon. North of Barton it will remain in it's current configuration however, just resurfaced.

Is this also on that earlier mentioned tender website for download?

 

[innsertnamehere]

yup!

 

[Chris R.]

Loving most of it, couple of spots I'm not in love with, but overall much better.

The Cannon/Sherman intersection still kind of sucks though for both pedestrians and cyclists. I feel like they could have brainstormed some better ideas.

A bit unfortunate there is no redesign of the portion north of Barton considering the burgeoning little area there with Playhouse and Cotton Factory etc.

 

[Chris R.]

Main Street two-way conversion on the list of major road projects for 2026 - bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA

Just in time for the October election the city of Hamilton is finally turning its attention to the condition of the city’s streets with an ambitious $106 Million repaving plan. It is part of a $150 million spend in 2026 into bike lanes, growth related infrastructure, rehabilitation and repaving...

bayobserver.ca

 

[innsertnamehere]

Main Street two-way conversion headlines busy year for road projects for Hamilton

City says $106.1M pegged for renewal and replacement of roads, bridges and sidewalks this year

www.thespec.com

Article in the Spectator today with a bit more detail. Expected to go to procurement late summer, which means likely a fall start. Won't see too much construction probably until October then, with most happening next year.

The Spec article still shows bike lanes as part of the plan.. my understanding is that those would be illegal under provincial legislation so I'm not sure what's happening there.

 

[Chris R.]

Main Street two-way conversion headlines busy year for road projects for Hamilton

City says $106.1M pegged for renewal and replacement of roads, bridges and sidewalks this year

www.thespec.com

Article in the Spectator today with a bit more detail. Expected to go to procurement late summer, which means likely a fall start. Won't see too much construction probably until October then, with most happening next year.

The Spec article still shows bike lanes as part of the plan.. my understanding is that those would be illegal under provincial legislation so I'm not sure what's happening there.

I'm not certain, but my understanding is two things benefit this project:

1) They removed a lane prior to the legislation coming into effect. Majority of the corridor doesn't include further removal of lanes.

2) My understanding is projects already in progress were allowed to continue.

Bonus: city appears to be basically doing what it wants while trying to stay under the radar. I know for a fact the city has basically changed nothing, and continues with projects as usual. So far nobody has talked to the city about this and so they plan to continue until told otherwise.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I'm not certain, but my understanding is two things benefit this project:

1) They removed a lane prior to the legislation coming into effect. Majority of the corridor doesn't include further removal of lanes.

2) My understanding is projects already in progress were allowed to continue.

Bonus: city appears to be basically doing what it wants while trying to stay under the radar. I know for a fact the city has basically changed nothing, and continues with projects as usual. So far nobody has talked to the city about this and so they plan to continue until told otherwise.

1. definitely gives them a bit of space to work with, but any stretch with bike lanes would have to maintain at least 4 lanes from my understanding under the legislation. The plan shown in the article shows 3 lanes.

2. was not true from my understanding. The City of Toronto has cancelled many planned bike lanes already in study - it was only projects already procured / under construction that they let finish up.

Yes, I imagine the city has proceeded cautiously - there weren't too many cycling projects in Hamilton that had planned lane removals in the first place from my understanding. Luckily the City managed to get Hunter St and Victoria done before the legislation!

You are right that Hamilton seems to be "trying it's luck" too against the legislation.. Limeridge is planned for 2026 still and includes lane reductions near the mall (on a very very underused street so it's really a complete non issue)

 

[matt602]

I wouldn't expect there to be any backlash from the province over it or any other bike lanes added in Hamilton, the conservative MPP's here are relatively unknown at Queens Park and I don't think they're involved enough in their communities to make any noise about it anyway.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I think it really depends how much traffic increases post-conversion. if Main St becomes a parking lot, you can expect complaints to MPPs given the profile of the bike lanes legislation and you may get some blow-back. One of the three Hamilton area PC MPPs is also in Cabinet (albeit a minor cabinet position).

Something like the Limeridge 4-lane section being removed is likely to go unnoticed on the provincial level since it's going to have 0 impact on traffic.. nobody will be complaining. But Main St? It's another level of prominence and much, much more likely to cause traffic issues. If Hamilton does decide to go for it here, it will be interesting to see if the province attempts enforcement for sure..

 

[legoswmonkey]

Not a driver so I don't have first hand experience, but only the section of the street furthest from the 403 and RHVP is getting bike lanes (Victoria to Sherman) so car traffic should be lesser there compared to Dundurn. A continuous lane to Longwood would be greatly appreciated but that is waiting on MTO and LRT plans.

 

[tsm1072]

The section of bike lane fills a gap in the network between Victoria and Sherman. West of Victoria, Hunter becomes the preferred bike route. Currently, the Stinson/Delaware route with a jog at Wentworth is not ideal as it is too far from Main to be convenient to bike to businesses on Main.

Ideally the bike lane would make it a bit further west to Ferguson, but I can see why the city avoided going west of Victoria. The busiest sections of Main and King are west of Victoria and Wellington with that pair and the Clairmont access provided the primary N/S corridor through the city and access to the mountain.

The two-way street conversions are a huge upgrade to the public realm and I think people will really notice the improvement in summer 2027 once the Main St conversion gets completed. The Wilson, Sherman, and Birch conversions are all finishing up in the next few months, and the sections already converted are a huge improvement om the old one-way setup.

 

[ScreamingViking]

The two-way street conversions are a huge upgrade to the public realm and I think people will really notice the improvement in summer 2027 once the Main St conversion gets completed. The Wilson, Sherman, and Birch conversions are all finishing up in the next few months, and the sections already converted are a huge improvement om the old one-way setup.

Most of us will see it as that kind of upgrade -- where I live, just off Main across from Gage Park, Main is a drag-strip especially in good weather, so the lane reductions will be helpful though I'm sure many of the racers will still try to do their thing. There will be inevitable complaints from the "I'm never going downtown again" crowd (who likely haven't ventured into the lower city in decades, if ever), but the street will be much more pleasant.

I do think the major benefits will only be felt when the LRT removes cars from half of King.

I often wonder what Hamilton would be like if the city was never sold on the one-ways in the first place. Many of the "north-south" streets made some sense when there was lots of employment in industry in the north end, but after that dried up we were left with an over-capacity network along too many corridors.

 

[doady]

Problem was never one-way streets, but a wide road with no parallel parking to calm traffic and provide a buffer between the traffic and the sidewalk.

Rue Ste-Catherine in Montreal is one-way.