T3G
Senior Member
How do you know that, when the project is not yet built!?
Hamilton Hamilton Line B LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx
- Thread starter Kiwi
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KingJames
Active Member
Well my reference was to the build process, I am sure once it is built (thinking 2032 before up and running), it will be very quick to traverse from Mac to Eastgate. Also by then, I am sure there will be proposals to extend to Dundas (at least University Plaza where it should have started in the west) and maybe to Centennial Go Station on the east.
duffo
Active Member
It's just the segment of Main where the LRT will run which is being converted, within this contract. The rest of Main will come later
tsm1072
Active Member
I did see somewhere that the City of Hamilton's Transportation Department scope for Main Street 2-way is Dundurn to King, so it seems the design scope for West of Dundurn has been handed over to this project. The City of Hamilton section may be staged to happen before or at a similar time to this contract, depending on funding, I assume.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
This makes more sense.
Council is pushing for Main Conversion ASAP - if anything, the LRT portion will come after the rest.
IIRC Council direction was to begin the conversion in 2026 and finish it up by 2028. This conflicts with this contract, which Metrolinx has indicated that major works won't even begin until 2028.
Allandale25
Senior Member
ownthesky
New Member
Is the A line still an active discussion at Metrolinx? I’ve seen some fairly recent city documents still referencing the “Metrolinx A line project” and the mountain councillor Danko, who’s ward it would dominate, still discusses it:
The city received from federal funding to move towards a light A line BRT on the mountain with queue jumps and signal priority, but I haven’t heard anything about it in two years.
The city received from federal funding to move towards a light A line BRT on the mountain with queue jumps and signal priority, but I haven’t heard anything about it in two years.
Amare
Senior Member
The A-Line LRT wont realistically happen in the next 50 years, it would be a BRT project that the city/Metrolinx would be implementing.
As to what's the status on that, I have no idea. Last I heard they were looking into implementing improvements to the corridor (ie: enhanced bus stops), but there was no word on full BRT infrastructure implementation timelines.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
The money for that work, IIRC is from a fund established in 2009 by the provincial liberals for "Quick wins".
Here we are 15 years later, unspent.
I also understand that the City was supposed to tender the work in 2023. That did not happen for whatever reason, and with no update on the work since.
There will be no A-line LRT any time soon, if ever. The City is barely able to justify queue jump lanes on the route right now. LRT is just overkill.
Sunnyside
Active Member
I think from a system wide perspective RT makes sense within 10-15 years. There are lots of N/S routes feeding into downtown, many of which could easily just terminate at a James/Fennell station. The # of routes obfuscates what is probably sizeable N/S demand, whereas the B-Line serves an area with fewer (but heavily used) parallel E/W routes.
As planned today, I still don’t think the need is urgent. Better though, by taking from the HSR’s concept network, is the ‘U’ express route from West Harbour to Limeridge to Centre mall (blending the ‘A’ and ‘T’ line). You capture 3 priority corridors (James, Mohawk, Ottawa/ Kenilworth), better serve existing travel patterns in the central city, hit more extant key destinations, and create 2 downtown feeder routes and a semi-circle ‘bypass’ in the process.
The A-Line as proposed will make the most sense once the AEGD starts to build out. There will be bi-directional travel, increased volumes on Upper James, etc. Not to mention both James and Upper James are significant car routes.
Personally, if we are looking long term, a grade-separated option is most desirable given the role it will play as a connector between major nodes/routes, not (primarily) serving local demand. This is the same as my stance for any RT we contemplate in Hamilton, though; if it’s not coming soon, we should be going bigger.
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ownthesky
New Member
Confusingly that "U" line you describe is also referred to as the L Line (60A) by the new HSR concept map. It's a very smart route. The major chokepoints I see on the city are James South, where buses already bunch up quite a bit and there is a risk of worsening traffic congestion.