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