Public hearings now underway into slippery mystery of Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway
Public hearings are underway in a judicial investigation of a buried safety report about the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
Council requested the judge-led inquiry after learning in 2019 that poor friction test results on the collision-prone road were hidden from public view for years. Politicians and top bureaucrats also claimed no knowledge of the report.
But early testimony - and a 1,000-plus-page inquiry summary - suggest the report wasn't hidden from everyone.
For example:
- Jennifer Roberts, a lawyer for parkway study consultant Golder, previously told the inquiry the company had successive, subsequent discussions with Hamilton" about the study after it was delivered in 2014;
- Emails obtained by the inquiry suggest a Golder official emailed the friction report to the city's top engineer a second time in 2015 and the two discussed possible parkway friction improvements like shot-blasting" in 2016;
- The Tradewind friction report was sent to lawyers representing the city in collision lawsuits in August 2017 - just a month after the city refused to divulge friction data to The Spectator for its award-winning investigation of high collision rates on the Red Hill.
The inquiry summary lays out what its lawyers learned from months of interviews and the review of 135,000 emails and documents since 2019. But the summary still needs to be tested for truth," warned lead inquiry lawyer Robert Centa.
For example, that means witnesses or inquiry participants like Golder, the city, the province of Ontario and parkway builder Dufferin Construction could still challenge statements made in that summary.
Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel will publish the final findings of fact" at the end of the inquiry process - but hearings are expected to last into the fall.
The first of at least 71 witnesses will be called Tuesday, including experts on asphalt, road friction and design. You can follow daily hearings via YouTube and at rhvpi.ca.
Commissioner Wilton-Siegel also ruled Monday on a request to have a different judge examine 87 documents that the city argues should be protected by legal privilege and withheld from the inquiry. The Spectator opposed the claim.
Justice Frank Marrocco, who most recently headed Ontario's long-term-care COVID commission, will be appointed to consider the city's privilege claims at a future hearing.
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com