Governors and Ogilvie, again

[If the city gets their way, this already dangerous intersection will be made more so for pedestrians, given the City's plan to widen the crossing by adding through lanes, as presented in the final draft of the Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan...]

Dundas woman struck crossing road TheSpec.com - Local - Dundas woman struck crossing road

Paul Morse, Hamilton Spectator

A 51-year-old Dundas woman is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after she was struck by a car while crossing Governor’s Road in Dundas this afternoon.

Police say the pedestrian was in the crosswalk heading south at Ogilvie when she was struck by a car turning right onto Governor's around 1 p.m. Monday.

Charges against a 71-year-old female driver from Woodham, Ont. are pending, said Hamilton police media officer Sergeant Terri-Lynn Collings.

http://thespec.com/News/Local/article/694664

widening governor's road?

The Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan (DDTMP) is going into the 60 day review period, with a Public Information Centre (PIC) on Tuesday December 15, 2009, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Dundas Municipal Centre (Dundas Town Hall) 60 Main Street, Dundas, ON L9H 5E7.

(The city's pdf announcement is here.)

The 60-day review period began December 4, 2009.

Please attend the PIC and add your comments.

sick of traffic?

Safety issues won’t move H1N1 clinic

Governor’s Road site will remain in use

Craig Campbell, News Staff

Published on Nov 06, 2009

Dundas Baptist Church on Governor’s Road will remain one of Hamilton’s four HINI influenza immunization clinics as long as the city still has doses of the vaccine, despite problems with traffic safety in the surrounding area.

Hamilton Police expressed concerns over the location of the main immunization clinic when it was announced. And Division 30 Inspector Bob Buck said there were traffic and pedestrian safety issues on the already controversial road right from the start.

“It became dangerous,” Inspector Buck said. “We raised that issue. We expressed concern about that location. From a traffic and pedestrian standpoint, it’s a difficult location.”

As the only immunization clinic for at-risk residents open all five days Oct. 26-30, the Dundas Baptist Church site saw the biggest influx of people by far. Hamilton Public Health Services staff say more than 8,000 people were injected with the H1N1 vaccine –that’s more than 1,600 people each day and over 280 people every hour.

But residents saw the impact as thousands of people looked for limited parking and lined up along the side of Governor’s Road waiting their turn.

“It was crazy,” said Randy Kay of the group Transportation for Livable Communities, which has been calling for safety and pedestrian improvements to Governor’s Road.

“The parking lot filled, cars parked on the side street, and cars backed up two lanes wide to Overfield. Crazy!”

He went by the Baptist Church clinic last Friday about 15 minutes before it closed. Mr. Kay suggested hindsight may encourage Public Health to examine the location, and move the immunization clinic somewhere with more parking or find a site people can get to without a car if they choose.

But Public Health spokesperson Tara Hall said no review of the location has taken place, and the clinic will not move from that site

“Dundas Baptist Church is one of four permanent locations,” Ms. Hall said.

The site met the required criteria for H1N1 clinics, including providing enough space and being available to the city for the required four to six weeks.

As long as Hamilton still has vaccine available, the Governor’s Road location is scheduled to be used until just before Christmas. It wasn’t known earlier this week when the clinic will open to the general public.

Ms. Hall said the public health department hopes having more clinics open this week, and insisting only the most at-risk residents get the vaccine for now, pressure on the Dundas location will ease and there will be fewer traffic and pedestrian safety problems.

Hamilton Police put an on-duty officer at the site immediately, expecting it to be an issue when it opened last Monday at 1 p. m. But when police discovered how busy it was and the officer was unavailable to respond to calls, a paid-duty or overtime officer was assigned to the site.

But police and public health commended each other on their individual efforts to keep the location as safe as possible, and manage the large numbers of people.

Inspector Buck said clinic staff did a really good job managing the people who showed up, and Ms. Hall said police did a great job managing traffic and providing safe pedestrian crossing across Governor’s Road.

http://www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/193731

cars over pedestrians...

[How do pedestrian safety concerns get translated by the city into widening the road? - ed]
Loss of family pet renews calls for Governor’s Rd. improvements
Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff
Published on Sep 18, 2009

A new Dundas resident has joined his Governor’s Road neighbours in demanding improvements to the thoroughfare after his dog was killed by a speeding car.

Gary Mckeown said he was walking his four-year-old Sheltie, Dawson, on a leash, when it stepped into the curbside lane and was struck by a red SUV or van. The dog died instantly.

Mr. Mckeown estimated the female driver was travelling more than 30 km-h over the speed limit when she moved into the curb lane to pass another vehicle, hitting Dawson.

“She didn’t even stop,” Mr. Mckeown said. “She had to know she hit a dog. Is she so heartless she couldn’t stop to say sorry?”

The incident raised his concern for pedestrian safety. He questioned why there is no crosswalk or traffic light at the corner of Overfield and Governor’s, where St. Joseph’s Villa long-term care facility is located. He also said the 50 km-h speed limit is not clearly marked in the area.

Within two weeks of moving to his Governor’s Road townhouse, Mr. Mckeown began raising the same concerns other area residents have had for years.

Hamilton Police Services Division Three Sergeant Mike Senchyshak said he heard about the dog’s death after Mr. Mckeown called police to complain about speeding on Governor’s Road.

“We’ve since made it a special attention,” Sgt. Senchyshak said. “We have had previous complaints about Governor’s Road, mostly in the area of the schools.”

Vehicles not stopping for school buses and illegally passing on the unpaved shoulder are among the complaints received by police.

Despite previous accidents in the area, including a collision that killed an elderly woman, proposed improvements along Governor’s Road have been delayed for four years.

Preliminary recommendations

The Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan preliminary recommendations included several changes to the Governor’s Road-Ogilvie Street intersection and a roundabout at Governor’s Road and Davidson Boulevard.

But staffing changes at the City of Hamilton delayed both projects. Diana Morreale recently took over as project manager, and is the third project manager of the master plan process since it began in May 2008.

Ms. Morreale said recommendations to widen Governor’s Road to four lanes between Creighton and Osler by adding additional westbound and eastbound lanes will be included in the final staff report. Other final recommendations for the Governor’s- Ogilvie intersection from the draft report include: adding a northbound left turn phase; changing the lane configuration of the southbound approach to feature an exclusive left turn lane with 15 metres of storage plus a shared through-right turn lane.

These changes are anticipated between 2012 and 2021 and are intended to alleviate traffic congestion. It’s not clear how the changes will address speeding or pedestrian safety, but Ms. Morreale said adjusting pedestrian signal timings will be recommended.

The proposed roundabout has completed a 30-day review period without opposition and apparently awaits approval in the 2010 budget process. It was originally supported by traffic staff in 2005.

turning the corner

Roundabout back on track
Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff, Published on Jun 26, 2009


After more than three years and plenty of study, a Governor’s Road roundabout has a couple more hoops to jump through before it becomes a reality.

Hamilton city council’s public works committee approved implementation of the roundabout plan on Governor’s Road at Davidson Boulevard last week. Following final approval by city council this week, the plan will be filed for a 30-day public review and then await funding approval in the 2010 budget process. Originally suggested by former Dundas councillor Art Samson and investigated by city staff in 2005, the idea was added to the Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan process in May 2008. The Governor’s and Davidson location was recommended and released to the public for comment in October 2008.

But five months later, staffing changes on the transportation master plan put both projects on hold while all recommendations and public submissions were reviewed again.

Project manager Lorissa Skrypniak said last week the roundabout plan was pulled out of the master plan process so it could move forward on its own while the master plan review continues.

Ms. Skrypniak expects a master plan report to go to public works committee in September.

moving ahead, in a slightly circular motion

Another step closer to a modern roundabout on Governor's Road: a great way to govern the intersection at Davidson, and to help calm traffic heading into the (3) school zone!

Check out the link to more info here!

waiting around

Roundabout plan delayed
Review could ‘fine tune’ recommendations
Craig Campbell, News Staff
Published on Mar 27, 2009

A roundabout on Governor’s Road at Davidson Boulevard has been further delayed as the Dundas Downtown Transportation Master Plan undergoes a complete review.

The local transportation master plan process began in May 2008. The three-year-old proposed roundabout on Governor’s Road was added to the review a month later, despite the Governor’s-Davidson intersection falling outside the core master plan area.

Last week, Lorissa Skrypniak of the City of Hamilton’s environmental planning department said she had replaced Natasha D’Souza as project manager of the Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan.

“We are in the process of revisiting the recommendations that we had presented and in some instances may fine tune some of the recommendations,” Ms. Skrypniak said. “We are in the process of undertaking this analysis now and therefore have delayed releasing the final report.”

The new project manager said she will also review the consultant’s report recommending a roundabout at Governor’s and Davidson.

A public meeting was held last May to introduce the project to the community and solicit public input. Following stakeholder meetings in May and September, a second public meeting was held in October to release the recommendations of the draft master plan and get more public input.

At the October meeting a consultant hired to prepare the master plan verified the Governor’s and Davidson intersection was the best location for a roundabout. It compared that intersection to Governor’s at Pirie, but concluded the Davidson intersection “offers the most opportunity to address the problem of vehicle delays and traffic buildup.”

City traffic staff was first asked to review Governor’s at Davidson for a possible roundabout in 2005 by then Dundas city councillor Art Samson and his community council.

At the time, city staff was supportive of the idea and noted widening Governor’s Road would not be an option.

Yet the Dundas Downtown Transportation Master Plan’s draft recommendations in October included a proposal to widen Governor’s Road.

The final master plan report was originally expected for November 2008.

The idea of widening Governor’s Road and a lack of short-term improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and transit in the draft master plan drew fire from Transportation for Livable Communities, which made a submission suggesting the plan did not deliver on its objectives or principles and argued the draft plan does more to accommodate cars than sustainable forms of transportation.
http://www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/168457