Letter of the Month?

Tuesday, December, 04, 2012 - 3:03:23 PM, Dundas Star News

Bone-headed design reduces safety

Robert Pinder, Dundas

Re: Tragedy on Governor’s Road

I don’t know any of the details of this tragedy, but I do know this area of Governor’s Road is a very densely populated residential one with hundreds of condos, apartments, a busy grocery store and even a retirement and long-term care facility. Add in a large church not too many metres from the intersection, the fact that this is a main route to two schools, and the picture is complete.

I also know that there is not one crosswalk along the 1.1-kilometre section of Governor’s Road between Ogilvie and Creighton. I will add further there are no left-turn lanes. However, absurdly, there is a third driving lane located on the westbound side of Governor’s, which allows for drivers, for some unfathomable reason, to greatly exceed the speed limit for 1.1 kilometres and pass those on the right lane, which they unquestionably do on a residential road in the town of Dundas.

This makes me very angry, not just for the poor casualty of this bone-headed road design, but for the safety of the thousands who use this daily. This is a terrible and deplorable “All Hail the Automobile” situation.

City roads designers, please get some crosswalks on that road — and other desolate lengths of city streets — today. Convert that preposterous middle lane into cycling lanes in either direction and left-turn lanes as needed.

Governor’s Road traffic a complex issue

Kitty MacLeod died for lack of a crosswalk (Opinion, Dec. 10)

Letters, Hamilton Spectator, December 15, 2012

To suppose that Kitty MacLeod died for lack of a crosswalk on Governor’s Road opposite St. Joseph’s Villa is to hold a misguided view of public policy. Any public policy based on one death or the possibility of “someone getting killed” cannot be reasonable. If it were, in the absurd extreme, we would have a crosswalk at every point where a pedestrian chose to cross a road, an all-way stop or signal at every intersection.

The contributing factors in MacLeod’s death are many. Those within the purview of municipal policy extend back in time at least to the approval of Governor’s Estates with no provision for adequate vehicle access. Simply painting a new lane line on a roadway without widening it in anticipation of greatly increased volume does not create a new lane. Moreover, the pedestrian-operated signals at Creekside-Hatt and Creekside-Ogilvie are, for most who encounter them, more of a problem than a solution.

“Everybody knows” (with a nod to Leonard Cohen) that the Ogilvie-Governor’s intersection has been dysfunctional from a traffic perspective for years. Its geometrics, lane markings, permitted moves, lane widths and approaches are all in need of a rigorous rethink given the volumes of vehicles, pedestrians, transit riders, cyclists, and scooters who take their chances every day.

Before Councillor Russ Powers acts to bring forward a crosswalk planned for 2017, with its guarantee of serious collateral discontent, I’d like to propose a community user-driven review of traffic policy and operations for the area centred on the Governor’s-Ogilvie intersection.

George Vance, Dundas

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!

YES: Roundabout...

Not the hit song by prog-rock band YES, but an important traffic calming device for Governor's Road:

Roundabout review part of master plan
Intersections expected to handle growth
Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News, Published on Jun 13, 2008

A review of a roundabout on Governor's Road will be combined with the ongoing Downtown Dundas Transportation Master Plan, more than two years after the traffic calming tool was suggested by former Dundas councillor Art Samson.

Natasha D'Souza of the City of Hamilton's environmental planning department is overseeing both projects.

She said feasibility assessments of roundabouts on Governor's Road at Davidson Boulevard, and Governor's at Pirie Drive will be completed for a scheduled fall open house on the local transportation master plan. A preferred option for a roundabout location will be presented at that time, but residents will have an opportunity to comment on it.

Meanwhile, the master plan background research indicates key downtown intersections will be able to handle future growth with few delays.

That means the master plan process will focus on providing alternative forms of transportation in Dundas, including public transit, bicycle lanes and pedestrian paths, in an area bounded by Matilda Street, York Street, King Street and Governor's Road, between Main and Ogilvie.

A preliminary public information session, introducing the master plan process and background information, was held last Thursday evening. At least 20 people dropped in.

The public session took place after a poorly attended stakeholder meeting, where only a few interested residents showed up to provide comments and ideas to the project team.

Under a "low growth" scenario, the background research found two problem intersections: Governor's Road at Ogilvie Street, and Hatt Street at Market Street.

Under a high growth scenario, those intersections are again projected to be problems, and the intersections of Hatt and Memorial, plus Governor's and Main Street, were also added.

Master plan research states these four intersections could "experience delays due to higher volumes of commuter traffic along Governor's Road, which functions as a major arterial roadway connecting Dundas to other communities."

Just a week before, participants in a safety audit agreed the philosophy of Governor's Road as a highway into Dundas must change to reflect its current use for education and residential purposes, with a recent increase in pedestrians and cyclists.

Analysis of collision data from 2002 to 2007 found two intersections of concern: Dundas at Governor's plus Main and Osler. Both intersections had a statistically significant number of left-turn, angle and rear-end collisions.

Ms. D'Souza said this week she was skimming through comments submitted by residents at the open house. A summary will be posted on the city Web site.
http://www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/132293