TLC for Governor's Road

Local sustainable transportation activists at Transportation for Liveable Communities have sent a letter to Ward 13/Dundas Councillor Russ Powers regarding Governor's Road - the following is lifted from their letter, dealing with specifics of the suggestions put forward by Powers: for the full letter, go to the TLC site here.

Councillor Powers	Transportation for Liveable Communities
Add an advanced left turn signal to the traffic lights at the Governors Road/Creighton Road intersection for eastbound/westbound traffic along Governors Road.	Await result of traffic audit to determine need Immediately change the walk/don't walk signal at Creighton to always go to "walk" on the green signal – currently the "walk" signal only appears after a pedestrian has activated the crossing button. The default is "don't walk" which creates confusion for all users by prioritizing cars over pedestrians, and makes crossing more uncertain, thus more dangerous.
Widen Governors Road to accommodate an identified left turn/holding lane from Creighton Road to at least Davidson Boulevard.	Adding an extra lane makes crossings for pedestrians more difficult and dangerous by increasing crossing distance and adding an extra lane of traffic to contend with. Road widening also contributes to a driving environment that induces speed. Therefore TLC strongly opposes a general widening, but supports limited , site specific widening to create turning lanes if required at St. Bernadette's school, and Highland Secondary school.
Install traffic lights or a roundabout (includes a pedestrian-activated crossing signal) at Davidson Boulevard.	A roundabout is the preferred option for safety and efficiency reasons, which TLC fully supports.
Install a pedestrian-activated crossing signal at the corner of Governors Road/Huntingwood Drive.	TLC supports this as a possible solution, but only in a context of accompanying traffic calming measures such as (but not limited to) a raised crosswalk and a median island. An alternative solution might include another roundabout at this location in the long term.
Post school crossing guards at the Huntingwood, Castlewood/Bridlewood and Davidson pedestrian crossings.	TLC supports
Extend the sidewalk on the north side of Governors Road from Davidson Boulevard to Pirie Drive.	TLC supports
Install a flashing "Speed Reduced to 40 kph" for the area bounded by the east/west boundaries of the three schools. This is programmed to be activated during morning and late afternoon/evening rush hours.	Evidence suggests that signs are not enough to influence driver behaviour, thus TLC supports physical traffic calming measures to slow traffic speeds: examples include lane narrowing, bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks, a traffic median, to enhance safety in the school zone.
Continue to lobby for a crossing guard at the Governors Road/Bridlewood /Castlewood Drive intersection.	TLC supports
Conduct a comprehensive traffic audit to identify contributing factors.	TLC supports, and requests a copy of the final report
Enhance public transit frequency along Governors Road during rush hours on weekdays.	TLC supports, with the following considerations: there is currently no bus service provided on Governor's Road on weekends – adding rush hour buses to alleviate traffic fails to address the demand for transit mobility for residents on weekends. TLC requests weekend bus service for Governor's Road. Current levels of transit service are poor in the entire ward, with one hour wait times much of the day on both Governors, and King..TLC therefore requests a comprehensive review of transit operations in Dundas with the goal of improving the level of service.
Review signal synchronization for eastbound/westbound traffic at Main Street, Oglivie Street and Creighton Road.	TLC supports synchronization that discourages speeding and takes into account the requirements of pedestrians for prompt crossing service.

For all the points noted, TLC requests a full update from the councillor/city of Hamilton on actions taken or decisions made.

Further: since our original letter, the Transportation Master Plan for the city has been approved by council – in that document there are plans specific to the area in question, but not addressed in councillor Powers' initial list of proposed solutions. The TMP refers to bike lanes for Governor's Road "Dundas Street-Governor's Road [from] Cootes Drive [to] Castlewood Blvd BL [2.9km at a cost of $166,750, to be done in the Medium term (http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/1ECE9040-72DC-432B-B480-163B810363C0/0/3CyclingNetworkStrategy.pdf ).

Therefore, TLC strongly recommends action on bike lanes be fully integrated with any road work to be done on Governor's Road. Bike lanes would assist in creating safer and more pleasant conditions for pedestrians and help improve the roadside atmosphere while giving more options to sustainable transportation users.

In conclusion, TLC would like to reiterate that users of Governor's Road include cyclists, pedestrians, transit and drivers. The current city wide transportation master plan, and the city's Vision 2020 planning documents all emphasize supporting sustainable modes of transportation. As a result, TLC expects any changes on Governor's Road to reflect this emphasis.

-30-

We'll keep in ear to the ground to see what is in store, and post it here.