Complete streets failing motorists, says Mountain councillor

Hamilton’s “complete street” strategy to accommodate all types of transit users on a road is failing motorists, says west Mountain Coun. Terry Whitehead.

The Ward 8 councillor said residents living along Stone Church Road, for instance, are having a near impossible time trying to get out of their driveways and there are additional accidents with traffic volumes increasing.

“They can’t get out of their neighbourhoods,” said Whitehead. “I live it every day. It’s not a pleasant experience for anyone or any neighbour.”

Implementing complete streets to the city’s roads was one of a number of goals contained in the city’s proposed updated transportation master plan that was presented to councillors June 20 at the general issues committee meeting.

Brian Hollingsworth, director of transportation planning, said the concept is “making streets safer” but he agreed additional study is needed.

“It’s not one-size-fits-all,” he said. “It is about providing access to transit in a bit of a holistic approach.”

Also part of the transportation master plan is the creation of a Vision Zero task force that will look at the feasibility of implementing Vision Zero principles.

Vision Zero, introduced in Europe in 1997, is a road traffic safety project that aims to create a road system with no fatalities or serious injuries. The core principle is that it can “never be ethically acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the road transport system.”

Martin White, the city’s traffic manager, said a report will be presented to councillors in July on introducing Vision Zero principles to Hamilton.

“We have to deliver safer infrastructure using the funding we have,” he said.

Ward 1 Coun. Aidan Johnson said creating a complete streets environment is about “striving for an ideal (that) ensures that we are truly respecting our citizens using all modes of transportation.”

Johnson said complete streets “gets a bad rap” sometimes because people believe it is “anti-car.”

“It is seeking more civic inclusion,” he said.

Accommodating all transportation modes will be essential as Hamilton’s roads will become more congested as the city’s population soars to 660,000 by 2031. Hamilton’s current population is 536,917.

Councillors deferred approving the master plan until a corresponding financial strategy accommodated the document. Ward 5 Coun. Chad Collins said he didn’t want to approve a plan with expensive projects but no way to pay for it.

“I don’t want to end up in a situation where we have all of these unfunded projects,” said Collins.