Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator.
SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
StreetBeat; Imagine sailing over the QEW to the lakeside. It can be done -- and it's up to you, officialdom
By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(Aug 16, 2006)
Every day, 120,000 vehicles fly past Hamilton on the eight lanes of the QEW that hug this end of Lake Ontario.
You don't want to try to dash across that kind of traffic. But if you're a cyclist trying to get over to the beautiful Beach Strip trail, the alternatives are nearly as bad.
There's Woodward Avenue, a potholed truck route. And there's Centennial, with more trucks yet, plus vanishing sidewalks and a suicidal dash through a railway underpass.
Next year, there may be a better way to the Beach. But time's a wasting.
The idea is a pedestrian bridge across the QEW, between the Burlington Street exit and the new interchange for the Red Hill Creek Expressway.
It would be "barrier free" -- that is, no stairs. So you could ride, roller skate, run your power scooter along a trail in the Red Hill Creek, sail over the QEW and link up with that five-star lakeside trail.
The Ministry of Transportation has already told the city this idea looks OK. But the big issues now are designing the bridge and paying for it.
East-end councillors Chad Collins and Sam Merulla are both keen on this project. Both have had complaints from constituents about how hard it is to get to the water. Both would like to see something more than just a cookie-cutter structure across the QE.
"I wouldn't want it to be circus-like," Collins says, "but it should be something that shows you're travelling through this unique community."
He points to the other end of the city, the entrance that brings motorists in over the 1932 High Level Bridge, as something to aim for. "That bridge itself could be a logo for our city."
A simple truss structure would cost about $3 million. An enhanced bridge, something that says "Hamilton" in an elegant way, could cost twice that.
Plain or iconic, construction of that pedestrian crossing would be done in conjunction with the new Red Hill interchange next February. That means the bridge design has to be finalized no later than November.
City staff are now looking for that $6 million. Maybe the province will kick some in. Maybe the Waterfront Trust. And maybe big steel has some money.
The bridge would touch down on the lake side at Wallace Road. Don't go looking for that on the map. It's an unpaved road allowance off the short piece of Nash Road that sits on the lakeside of the QEW.
There are seven houses on Wallace Road. They can't get cable here. The pizza man always gets lost and even the cops have a hard time finding them. The city doesn't clear the snow, but Bernie Arsenault is glad to do the job. He has been here 49 years.
Out their front door, the people of Wallace Road have a sound barrier. Out back, they have a water-and-woods wilderness.
A new pedestrian bridge right in their midst comes as distressing news to Mike Bateman. "What I like is that nobody comes here," he says.
And he worries about rising crime.
But this is the kind of talk we heard from Beach Strip residents when the trail was being planned between their back yards and the lake. Now they love sitting in the sun, watching as the world rolls silently by and their property values soar.
Sherry and Sam Nath know that. They live in a house on Wallace Road that started as a small cottage. They couldn't get permission to knock it down to build a new home, so they put on an addition that triples the space.
Sherry's view of the bridge that would end just steps from their door? "I'm so happy."
The route will lead city dwellers to an area that until now has been known only to the residents of Wallace Road and to gaggles of birdwatchers.
The trail here runs along an abandoned rail bed that cuts though a marsh with snapping turtles, herons, fat carp skimming the surface. Push north and you're at Hutch's.
November seems like an impossible deadline to pull this together. But city council is motivated because November also brings an election.
This city loves politicians who find ways to give us back our waterfront, so long out of bounds.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday
pwilson@thespec.com 905-526-3391
Picture- A $6-million pedestrian bridge over the Queen Elizabeth Way to the Lake Ontario waterfront might look like this. Final design and financing are not yet complete, but the city must move quickly.
SPECIAL TO THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
StreetBeat; Imagine sailing over the QEW to the lakeside. It can be done -- and it's up to you, officialdom
By Paul Wilson
The Hamilton Spectator
More articles by this columnist
(Aug 16, 2006)
Every day, 120,000 vehicles fly past Hamilton on the eight lanes of the QEW that hug this end of Lake Ontario.
You don't want to try to dash across that kind of traffic. But if you're a cyclist trying to get over to the beautiful Beach Strip trail, the alternatives are nearly as bad.
There's Woodward Avenue, a potholed truck route. And there's Centennial, with more trucks yet, plus vanishing sidewalks and a suicidal dash through a railway underpass.
Next year, there may be a better way to the Beach. But time's a wasting.
The idea is a pedestrian bridge across the QEW, between the Burlington Street exit and the new interchange for the Red Hill Creek Expressway.
It would be "barrier free" -- that is, no stairs. So you could ride, roller skate, run your power scooter along a trail in the Red Hill Creek, sail over the QEW and link up with that five-star lakeside trail.
The Ministry of Transportation has already told the city this idea looks OK. But the big issues now are designing the bridge and paying for it.
East-end councillors Chad Collins and Sam Merulla are both keen on this project. Both have had complaints from constituents about how hard it is to get to the water. Both would like to see something more than just a cookie-cutter structure across the QE.
"I wouldn't want it to be circus-like," Collins says, "but it should be something that shows you're travelling through this unique community."
He points to the other end of the city, the entrance that brings motorists in over the 1932 High Level Bridge, as something to aim for. "That bridge itself could be a logo for our city."
A simple truss structure would cost about $3 million. An enhanced bridge, something that says "Hamilton" in an elegant way, could cost twice that.
Plain or iconic, construction of that pedestrian crossing would be done in conjunction with the new Red Hill interchange next February. That means the bridge design has to be finalized no later than November.
City staff are now looking for that $6 million. Maybe the province will kick some in. Maybe the Waterfront Trust. And maybe big steel has some money.
The bridge would touch down on the lake side at Wallace Road. Don't go looking for that on the map. It's an unpaved road allowance off the short piece of Nash Road that sits on the lakeside of the QEW.
There are seven houses on Wallace Road. They can't get cable here. The pizza man always gets lost and even the cops have a hard time finding them. The city doesn't clear the snow, but Bernie Arsenault is glad to do the job. He has been here 49 years.
Out their front door, the people of Wallace Road have a sound barrier. Out back, they have a water-and-woods wilderness.
A new pedestrian bridge right in their midst comes as distressing news to Mike Bateman. "What I like is that nobody comes here," he says.
And he worries about rising crime.
But this is the kind of talk we heard from Beach Strip residents when the trail was being planned between their back yards and the lake. Now they love sitting in the sun, watching as the world rolls silently by and their property values soar.
Sherry and Sam Nath know that. They live in a house on Wallace Road that started as a small cottage. They couldn't get permission to knock it down to build a new home, so they put on an addition that triples the space.
Sherry's view of the bridge that would end just steps from their door? "I'm so happy."
The route will lead city dwellers to an area that until now has been known only to the residents of Wallace Road and to gaggles of birdwatchers.
The trail here runs along an abandoned rail bed that cuts though a marsh with snapping turtles, herons, fat carp skimming the surface. Push north and you're at Hutch's.
November seems like an impossible deadline to pull this together. But city council is motivated because November also brings an election.
This city loves politicians who find ways to give us back our waterfront, so long out of bounds.
StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday
pwilson@thespec.com 905-526-3391
Picture- A $6-million pedestrian bridge over the Queen Elizabeth Way to the Lake Ontario waterfront might look like this. Final design and financing are not yet complete, but the city must move quickly.