TRUCK ROUTE SURVEY

Yes, another survey from the city of Hamilton. This one about truck routes. Have a say, and feel free to comment about the survey: was it good? were there confusing sections?

The first thing to note, the survey was oddly presented on their webpage as a "Let's talk about trucks" tab - I think "Survey" would have sufficed, but the important thing is to add your voice to the discussion. 

There are other groups working on the truck route study, like Environment Hamilton's Friendly Streets initiative, so check them out. We can add our collective voice to ensure a more balanced truck route plan to keep heavy trucks out of residential areas along arterial roads. 

Here's a link to the Truck study page: https://engage.hamilton.ca/trmp

Here's a direct link to the survey: https://engage.hamilton.ca/trmp/survey_tools/lets-talk-about-trucks

Give yourself about 10 minutes, and feel free to share your experience here with us in the comments.

 

trucks off

A step in the right direction, yet the downtown is still subject to highway mentality as a truck route...

Council OKs truck route overhaul
TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - Council OKs truck route overhaul


After three years of debate, Hamilton has approved its truck route overhaul.


The new plan, which will govern the way trucks move through the city, was finalized at tonight’s council meeting. It’s the first time the city has done a complete overhaul of the routes.


The public works committee voted last week to ban trucks from four largely residential areas of the city -- parts of Kenilworth Avenue, Upper Ottawa Street, Concession Street, and Dundurn Street North -- for an 18-month trial period.


At tonight’s meeting, council added Centennial Parkway to that list. Committee held off on a decision on that route last week to allow Stoney Creek Councillor Brad Clark to speak to the issue.


The truck route plan has drawn fire both from community groups and from the trucking industry. Residents cite environmental, health, safety, and traffic concerns about trucks cutting through their neighbourhoods.


However, the Ontario Trucking Association and Hamilton’s Chamber of Commerce have both criticized the city for what they call a “last-minute” removal of the residential areas from the approved routes.


ereilly@thespec.com
905-526-2452

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.