‘Rat-running’ fears spur new opposition to Aberdeen Avenue road diet
An Aberdeen Avenue road diet" in the works for years is facing last-minute opposition from residents worried the traffic-calming plan will push impatient commuters into neighbourhood streets.
Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson acknowledged rat-running" drivers are a problem - but added that's why the city will closely monitor the pilot project and make changes as needed."
In an interview, Wilson said she understands the concerns of many residents who signed a petition or wrote letters to council opposing the change. But she said the road diet - which will convert outside lanes to parking as a safety buffer for pedestrians - was recommended by city traffic experts.
It is a dangerous road," she said. When it comes to health and safety, we can't govern by petition."
The Kirkendall neighbourhood association asked for safety changes in 2015 on the dangerous, intimidating" four-lane road that links the Queen Street hill to Highway 403, arguing speeders put cyclists and sidewalk users at risk.
Years of debate over competing rights of commuters and residents ended - temporarily - with a recommendation to experiment with a road-narrowing diet" alongside smaller changes like tweaks to traffic-light timings.
Council voted in June 2019 to do the diet - but only after a two-way traffic conversion on intersecting Queen Street. That project should wrap up this fall, kick-starting the Aberdeen road diet.
Now a different resident group - Keep Aberdeen Moving - has mounted a last-ditch campaign against the road diet. The group argues the narrowing is unnecessary, will cause congestion and push more vehicles into residential streets.
The latter argument was most common in the 60-plus letters on Aberdeen received by council last Thursday.
Neighbourhood resident Richard Harris, a longtime cycling commuter, called the road diet well-intentioned" but destined to create many more safety problems than it solves."
Harris said he is braced for thwarted motorists to shortcut into his neighbourhood. Their frustration will encourage them to speed, and in general drive recklessly," he wrote.
Bob and Rosemary Miller wrote to say they agreed it is dangerous to walk along Aberdeen where a speeding driver could lose control of their vehicle and wipe you off the face of the earth." But the couple said that's why they walk on slower residential streets - an option they fear will become less safe with a traffic bottleneck" on Aberdeen.
Wilson agreed cut-through neighbourhood traffic is a challenge. But people live on Aberdeen, too, she noted - and more than 600 schoolchildren walk along or cross the street that saw 466 collisions over a decade leading up to 2019.
Some opponents also argue the road is not that dangerous compared to other streets studied in a Hamilton-wide network risk indicator." That survey placed Aberdeen 559 out of 2,740 street segments.
But Wilson said that review still ranks Aberdeen street safety in the worst 20 per cent. It also places more weight on fatalities than total collisions, she said.
That was a point made by road diet advocate Kari Dalnoki-Veress, who previously told The Spectator he was impaled by his own bike seat after a car hit him from behind on Aberdeen in 2014. The physics professor noted the initial collision didn't really make the news" because his injuries were not life-threatening.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com