The city is in something of a holding pattern as it awaits a July decision by Metrolinx on the face of local rapid transit in the years ahead.
By Rob Faulkner
(Published in the Hamilton Spectator on January 20, 2009.)
The city is in something of a holding pattern as it awaits a July decision by Metrolinx on the face of local rapid transit in the years ahead.
Most of the decisions on where stations will be, and what they will look like, depend on which form of rapid transit Metrolinx awards to Hamilton, the city says.
Yesterday, city councillors had an update on where Hamilton fits into the provincial transportation agency's 25-year, $50-billion plan to ease gridlock and pollution in the Toronto-Hamilton area.
The city is studying rapid transit -- which it hopes will result in provincially funded light rail -- on the B-line, from Eastgate Square to McMaster University. In July, the provincial transportation agency Metrolinx is expected to finish an analysis of the B-line, to determine whether it warrants rapid buses or light-rail vehicles.
Councillor Chad Collins asked staff the status of the Eastgate Square terminal, only to hear that studies are ongoing at City Hall but the design of terminals depends on the form of transit.
"We are really reliant on the benefits case analysis by the province," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who is on the Metrolinx board.
The city is doing studies they hope will aid the Metrolinx analysis covering topics like archeology, natural heritage, economic spinoff, technology, routing and more. It is these study results that city staff plan to share with people along the King-Main corridor in February.
In November, the B-line was listed as a Top 15 priority project in the first 15 years of the Metrolinx regional transportation plan. It also identified an A-line (downtown to the airport) within 15 years, and longer-term, backward L-shaped lines from the east end to Ancaster.
Eisenberger does not expect to hear before July on results of the Metrolinx analysis of the B-line.