Hamilton Hamilton Line B LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx
- Thread starter Kiwi
- Start date
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
The election is on June 7th, 2018. The Province better have those contracts for the consortium signed by June 6th. Tick tock.
DonValleyRainbow
Senior Member
Member Bio
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Messages
- 2,867
- Reaction score
- 1,927
- Location
- Kay Gardner Beltline Trail
stanko
Active Member
That's a shame. Why in the hell would they do that?
DC83
Senior Member
Huge reason why Metrolinx's B-Line LRT is losing my support is due to the massive swaths of demolition, mostly historic and/or unique sites (not to mention hundreds of units of affordable apartments).
In this one screenshot below, there are 10 buildings set to be demolished including a beautiful historic Scotia Bank (now Hakim Optical), a relic of the past Martin's Bowl, a few restos and dozens of affordable apartments.
Just west of the screenshot at King & Holton, the beautiful Bank of Montreal building is also set to be torn down.
While LRT advocates whine and cry in letters / emails to City Council about a Bay St stop, these buildings --and many more!-- remain on the chopping block with little acknowledgement
In this one screenshot below, there are 10 buildings set to be demolished including a beautiful historic Scotia Bank (now Hakim Optical), a relic of the past Martin's Bowl, a few restos and dozens of affordable apartments.
Just west of the screenshot at King & Holton, the beautiful Bank of Montreal building is also set to be torn down.
While LRT advocates whine and cry in letters / emails to City Council about a Bay St stop, these buildings --and many more!-- remain on the chopping block with little acknowledgement
Attachments
rbt
Senior Member
That does seem like a ton of demolition in order to give drivers right-hand turn lanes which you don't find along most of the route.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
^I don't see any right turn lanes there. I do question the need of the Scotiabank though, it looks as though that property impact could be mitigated with some adjustments.
rbt
Senior Member
You're right. I mis-read the left turn arrows as being left+straight. I guess that symbol is left+U? Either way, it's still 1 more lane than most intersections have and isn't really an "LRT" thing.
DC83
Senior Member
DC83
Senior Member
This shot of King & Main (the least logistical, most nonsense stop on the route) requires the demolition of the iconic Delta Block bldg which has housed Pizza Pizza and it's order processing centre for decades (along with several other storefronts with affordable apartments above them)
This shot of The Delta Block via Google Streetview
This shot of The Delta Block via Google Streetview
Attachments
TransitBart
Senior Member
Is it the demolition in principle or the loss of affordable housing? In my view that building at the corner has about zero redeeming features. Good riddance.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
There is a choice.
Do we complain and bitch (or join the NOLRT team)?
Or do we ACTUALLY do something?
We should be banding together for solutions. For example, when a corner is cut, only the ground floor needs to be slightly expropriated if there only needs the second floor to cantilever over the sidewalk by one-half meter (e.g. If it does not enroach intro road allowance, just slightly over sidewalk). Delta can easily structurally do that, for example. But this is good for upIt has been done elsewhere. Also, the most historic building facades can be disassebled and re-built a few meters set back. One of you put together a heritage preservation group and I'm in -- I'd let my spouse know because he has a very big interest in heritage stuff. One of our presentations brought up the subject of heritage preservation. And reach out to existing groups (if they are organized enough to band together on this).
Do we complain and bitch (or join the NOLRT team)?
Or do we ACTUALLY do something?
We should be banding together for solutions. For example, when a corner is cut, only the ground floor needs to be slightly expropriated if there only needs the second floor to cantilever over the sidewalk by one-half meter (e.g. If it does not enroach intro road allowance, just slightly over sidewalk). Delta can easily structurally do that, for example. But this is good for upIt has been done elsewhere. Also, the most historic building facades can be disassebled and re-built a few meters set back. One of you put together a heritage preservation group and I'm in -- I'd let my spouse know because he has a very big interest in heritage stuff. One of our presentations brought up the subject of heritage preservation. And reach out to existing groups (if they are organized enough to band together on this).
Last edited:
animatronic
Senior Member
Downtown Hamilton is in serious need of renewal, and permanent transit is known to be one of the best drivers of improvement. Heritage protection doesn't mean saving everything. You have to be willing to lose a few buildings in order to save the city.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Non-architect here: what's so special about the Scotia/Hakim at King-Sherman that I'm missing?
Tuck
Active Member
At the same time, taking out a stretch of a street entirely seems a bit excessive, and at least based one the images above.
Now, if all of those areas will be immediately replaced by new buildings, its less of a concern, though still a bit of a shame since old buildings add flavor to a city. If those lots just end up empty though, well thats another matter entirely.