Electric cars ‘change game’ for Red Hill Valley Parkway expansion: Coun. Sam Merulla

The city will put a proposal to widen Hamilton's Red Hill Valley Parkway to ease congestion before a joint stewardship board that aims to respect Indigenous treaty rights.

Just a few years ago, such an expansion of the four-lane expressway smacked of 1950s thinking, but the promise of electric vehicles has shifted the transportation landscape, Coun. Sam Merulla says.

It changes the game, and we will be back to cars being in demand and we need to get ahead of that."

Merulla called the 2007 opening of the eight-kilometre expressway connected to the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway a defining" moment for Hamilton that has led to a renaissance."

Electric vehicles, the east-end councillor added, eliminate the concerns over carbon emissions spewing from gasoline-powered engines.

The still-to-be-decided widening of the Red Hill to six lanes is subject to ongoing reviews, including a mobility feasibility study, for which the main technical elements, such as projected traffic, have been completed.

But any parkway expansion proposal still requires a provincially mandated environmental assessment and public consultation, public works staff told council Wednesday.

Another requirement is consultation with a six-member joint stewardship board made up of council and Haudenosaunee members that was initially struck in 2003 to protect the Red Hill Valley.

Coun. Brad Clark, who is one of the city's three representatives, advised delivering a straightforward proposal to the board as soon as possible is crucial amid rocky relations.

We have had some real challenges this term, and I don't want to befuddle it," Clark said.

Last year, Haudenosaunee delegates argued the city breached the agreement by not consulting with them on a stormwater plan for a residential development by the Red Hill Creek or before selling municipal land.

On Wednesday, lawyer Aaron Detlor, who's a board member, also said the Haudenosaunee had been left on the sidelines in the lead-up to an upcoming public inquiry into the crash-prone parkway.

If anyone was serious about honouring the terms of an agreement, they would honour the terms of the agreement."

Detlor said the council's overture on potential parkway expansion comes too late with studies already underway.

It appears to be a further attempt to make an end run around binding agreements that some would see as sacred and solemn in nature," he said.

In that context, Detlor said, a potential widening wouldn't be looked upon favourably."

At council, legal staff told city politicians an expansion wouldn't require Haudenosaunee approval but also acknowledged clauses of the agreement that require board consensus.

In 2016, the estimated cost to expand the Linc and Red Hill parkways was pegged at between $41 million and $61 million - with the hope to tap into provincial funding - in addition to a yearly operational expense of $597,000.

Brian Hollingworth, transportation director, told council costs have escalated considerably since those estimates.

Coun. Tom Jackson, who like Merulla, was in office during the rancorous Red Hill construction debates, said he has consistently backed the original six-lane concept" with the province picking up half the tab.

The parkway has led to many benefits, including a business park and reduced traffic in neighbourhood streets, the east Mountain councillor said.

An expansion also dovetails with a newly approved truck route that directs heavy vehicles out of the core to favour a new ring road concept," which includes the Red Hill, he said.

I hope this may kick-start a wonderful project that still hasn't come to fruition."

But it makes no sense to expand city parkways without the province alleviating congestion on Highway 403, Coun. Terry Whitehead said.

That would only create greater pressure on the west Mountain without the 403 being addressed."

Hollingworth agreed, saying pinch points" on the 403 and Queen Elizabeth Way are very much tied" to potential changes on the parkways.

In a recently released 30-year Greater Golden Horseshoe transportation plan, the province has indicated new capacity expansion" on the QEW, 403 and parts of Highway 6 south and north.

Councillors Nrinder Nann and Maureen Wilson voted against Merulla's motion, which passed with a strong majority.

Widening roads - including the Red Hill - is a bad idea overall, longtime environmental advocate Don McLean said.

In general, widening roads, building new ones, doesn't gain anything on congestion. What it does is it generates additional traffic," said McLean, who was among those who rallied against the parkway's construction.

It just means people move further away from their jobs and where they need to go on the basis that they can get there just as fast because now there's a new road or a wider road."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com