Dundurn Road Diet with Bike Lanes

Tourism Hamilton released this statement on their Facebook page today: 

Next week, Hamilton’s Public Works Department will install bicycle lanes on Dundurn Street North between York Boulevard and King Street West, bringing the City’s total on-street cycling network to 130kms.

Currently, Dundurn Street has two auto lanes northbound and one auto lane southbound. When the new bike lanes are installed, this configuration will be modified to one auto lane in each direction with separate bike lanes in each direction.

The bike lanes on Dundurn North will connect to the well-established bike lanes on York Boulevard by Dundurn Castle, a connection through Victoria Park towards downtown Hamilton, and the popular cycling connection over Hwy. 403 to Westdale and McMaster University.

"This represents another key link in the Ward One and city-wide cycling system,” said Councillor Brian McHattie. “This link will encourage more folks to leave their car at home when traveling for short trips in west Hamilton. The next step is to work with Fortinos/Loblaws to connect the Dundurn bike lanes. My goal is to see the Ward One cycling system in place by 2014.”

This project builds on the existing bike lane network on Dundurn Street South, which connects to the recently extended Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail via Glenside Avenue, the existing Chedoke Radial Rail Trail up the escarpment and signed cycling routes on Herkimer Street and Charlton Avenue.

trucks off

Nice short video by some Dundurnians, part of the campaign to have Dundurn North taken back off the Truck Route (it was originally out, but the Chamber of Commerce and the Truck Lobby got it back in).

Well hup and hurray, they were successful, so Dundurn and some other residential streets  are going to be truck free for an 18-month trial!

Congrats to the Strathcona Neighbourhood Council for their work organizing this campaign!

dump the trucks on Dundurn

NOTES From an article by Jen Dawson:

• The city estimates that Dundurn North carries 11,652 vehicles every 24 hours, of which 477 are "commercial vehicles."
• Dundurn North is a two-way, three-lane road that rips through the heart of a dense residential neighbourhood
• All but six of the buildings on Dundurn North are detached and semi-detached homes
• Sidewalks are only four feet, ten inches wide, a third of which is lost to slope whenever there's a curb cut for a driveway or intersection: Pedsafe, an office of the U.S. Department of Transportation, recommends that sidewalks on arterial roads are six to eight feet wide, with an additional four- to six-foot buffer between the sidewalk and the road.
• the November 2009 recommended truck network did not have Dundurn North on it, the current version does.

Read her entire article at RAISE THE HAMMER!

Further notes - Dundurn North appears as a bicycle route in the Shifting Gears Cycling plan , meant to go to two lanes (one in each direction) with bike lanes. (see google map on sidebar, project #088)

Trucks and Bicycles Don't Mix Well

Statistical evidence shows the chance of fatality for cyclists increases dramatically with the size of the vehicle in a collision. The 1998 Coronor's Report found that:

While Class G vehicles still accounted for the majority of fatal collisions, large vehicles were involved in 37 per cent of collisions resulting in cyclist fatalities (compared with only eight per cent of collisions resulting in cyclist injuries). This difference must be attributed to an increased likelihood of cyclist fatality in collisions with large vehicles. For example, there was one cyclist fatality for every 125 non-fatal collisions involving large vehicles (Class A, B, C, D and M) as opposed to one cyclist fatality for every 488 non-fatal collisions involving Class G motor vehicles. Thus, it appears that a cyclist's collision with a large vehicle is approximately four times more likely to result in cyclist fatality than a cyclist's collision with a Class G vehicle.

the booze lane?

The newly installed bike lanes on Dundurn South continue to attract law breaking drivers who consider their personal convenience before any civic duty (civility). So far, every time I've passed this spot there are cars blocking the bike lane. Next door at the beer store:

This gentleman was told by a beer store employee not to park in the bike lane, which he ignored and went to get his case regardless. The employee told me that by-law had handed out some tickets today (Saturday), but in my short visit there were five different vehicles using the bike lane in front of the LCBO and Beer store. Perhaps installing some bollards will be necessary to prevent these ongoing violations.

Dundurn between Main and Aberdeen

Bike lanes, finally! Plenty of bike action on the new lanes, hopefully the world will still revolve and we can all learn to get along. Thanks to Councillor McHattie for holding the line as some local business people tried to kill the bike lanes over the loss of some on street parking.

Somebody needs to tell people who think it is VIP parking in front of the beer store now. Here's Ancaster Taxi blocking this afternoon.

Dundurn Redux

What: Dundurn Street: from National Historic Site to World Biosphere Reserve (York Blvd to Aberdeen)

Date: Monday, March 22, 2010

Time: 7 to 9 p.m.

Location: Parish Hall, St. Joseph Church, Locke at Herkimer, Hamilton

Dundurn is a street on the cusp of redeveloping and forging a new identity. You are invited to a community meeting to learn about and provide your input into how it could look in the future.

Agenda:

· Councillor McHattie will speak about his vision of Dundurn Street

· Khaldoon Ahmad, City of Hamilton Urban Design and David Cumming, City of Hamilton Heritage and Urban Design will speak about potential streetscapes on Dundurn as well as the concept of Dundurn as a “Complete Street”

· Al Fletcher, City of Hamilton Planning will speak about what Dundurn might look like under the new Mixed Use zoning and by-law reform; this could include intensification opportunities

· Daryl Bender, City of Hamilton Alternative Transportation will speak about the Shifting Gears Cycling Master Plan, TDM (Transportation Demand Management), and transit opportunities

· Zach Douglas, CEO of McMaster Innovation Park will provide an update on the current progress and how it ties into the future of Dundurn

The presentations will be followed by a Q&A and discussion.

Resources

Complete Streets

New Urbanism

Commercial & Mixed Use Zoning

Shifting Gears – Hamilton’s Cycling Master Plan

TDM - Transportation Demand Management

McMaster Innovation Park