Dundas’ King West crossover due in spring
Will stop traffic both sides for pedestrians, and should be done by Buskerfest in June
A new pedestrian crossover on King Street West in downtown Dundas — which will mean removal of the existing pedestrian-controlled traffic light at Ogilvie Street — is expected to be installed in spring 2018.
City of Hamilton traffic engineering superintendent David Ferguson said the crossover, which gives the right of way to pedestrians crossing the street — and requires drivers on both sides of the road to stop and wait until walkers cross the entire width of the road — will be completed, and the existing traffic lights removed, “prior to the annual Buskerfest in early June.”
The crossover will apparently cross King in the area of the Collins and Kevin Martin Fine Jewellery on the north side to the area of the Horn of Plenty and Cumbrae’s on the south side.
Dundas Coun. Arlene VanderBeek told the Dundas community council last week she had hoped the crossover might have gone in by this fall, but said traffic engineering has packaged the work with an existing project on traffic lights at Cross at King and Sydenham at King.
A pedestrian crossover was installed on Governor’s Road late last year.
The King Street crossover, first discussed a year ago, was suggested to include “bump outs” into the parking lane to help make crossing the road safer by shortening the distance to cross and making pedestrians more visible. It apparently means the elimination of at least one street parking space.
VanderBeek said she also requested a pedestrian crossover on Old Ancaster Road, where it meets the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail, south of Dundana Avenue.
She said there have been so many requests for the crossovers from ward councillors across the city that staff decided to review the requests and assess their need to prioritize installation.
Ferguson said traffic engineering staff has more than 150 requests.
“We have just recently completed a consultant assignment to create a tool for staff to assist in ranking all the locations and to provide us with a plan for installation based on priority,” he said. “We are expecting to submit a report to (public works committee) either late this year or early in 2018, with all the locations ranked.”