By Pepper Parr
July 22, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
Hamilton Residents got an opportunity to stroll along Locke Styreet on the weekend when the local BIA took advantage of the more seasonal weather of the last few days held a Sundays Unlocked event – a pedestrian-only day of shopping, food and entertainment.
Most of the restaurants on Locke have opened patios—including Donut Monster, Bardo, Peruviano, Delirious Burger, The Squire, West Town, Democracy, Burnt Tongue, Amo Gelato, Starbucks, Planted, Noir and Diced Ice.
Live Music is provided by John and Paul, Johnny and Shari, Beyond the Woodpile, the Weight and Bliss. There are balloons, Chalk Painting and caricatures for the kids as well.
There are many who would like to see events like that happen in Burlington; some feel that Brant Street should be a pedestrian only area from Lakeshore to Caroline.
Is there any traction for an idea like that?
Brian, if one continually accepts being put upon by someone else, that person will continue to put upon you. The QEW, 403, etc. are the responsibility of the Provincial government. It Is the responsibility of the provincial government to ensure that those major highways are adequate to carry the volume of traffic.
Transient traffic through Burlington using our streets to avoid the highway should not be a burden for us to bear. You ask where should that traffic be directed? To the provincial highways is the answer. Whether or not any specific provincial highway is capable of accepting the traffic is not our problem. That is the problem for the provincial government to solve. Let’s force the transient traffic onto the provincial highways where it belongs. I’m sure you will say that is easier said than done. See below!
Blair, in my opinion The downtown does have some vibrancy. But certainly it could be better. The only way it’s going to improve is to make it more attractive to residents and others to view it as a destination venue.
We certainly have a jewel in our midst being Spencer Smith Park. But Spencer Smith Park is divided from the downtown by Lakeshore Road and it’s traffic.
One issue is that the traffic signals at Brant Street and Lakeshore Road are a mess. In my opinion, this crossing should be a scramble crossing. We need to separate pedestrians from vehicles.
I would like to see the entire area pedestrianized so that Spencer Smith Park is joined to the downtown core and is enticing to residents and visitors to visit. Other cities both in Canada and around the world have wrestled with this problem and found it possible to pedestrianize their downtowns. I don’t see why Burlington should be any different.
Action items
1 Lakeshore Road / Brant Street Junction
Make this junction a scramble crossing. Separate vehicles and pedestrians.
2 Shuttle Bus
Institute and maintain a free shuttle bus service between Burlington GO Station, Mapleview Mall and a downtown drop off point, whether or not a pedestrianized area is created. Let’s dissuade visitor vehicles from downtown. The shuttle should initially operate on weekends.
3 Parking Charges
Increase parking charges for non-resident vehicles.
4
Impose Road Tolls
It is allowable under the Municipal Act, 2001, for a municipality to impose road tolls. Let’s impose a roll on Lakeshore Road (possibly on New Street and Fairview Street also) that charges non-residents.
See excerpts from the Municipal Act 2001 shown below.
“Toll highways”
“What constitutes a highway
26 The following are highways unless they have been closed:
3. All highways transferred to a municipality under the Public Transportation and Highway Improvement Act.”
“40 (1) A municipality may,
(a) designate a highway as a toll highway; and
(b) operate and maintain the designated highway as a toll highway. 2001, c. 25, s. 40 (1); 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 19.”
Yes, Provincial Government approval is required!
Whether or not Brant Street should become a pedestrian mall is, I fear, largely moot. As the Mayor’s ‘in process’ vision for the downtown proceeds, it is unlikely that access to the downtown through existing routes, such as Lakeshore, Fairview and New Streets, will be possible due to traffic gridlock. And if our “vibrant” downtown is as it is today, then who would want to visit it anyways?
Past two weekends roads were horrendous due to lane closures plus accident on QEW Niagara bound. Where would you like the traffic to be redirected to?
Absolutely! We should. Like Andy and Anderson, I have advocated for many years now for a pedestrianized area around Brant Street. Many other cities, including Toronto and Oshawa, have pedestrianized areas and found the complete reverse of what naysayers predict. And that is commerce flourishes. The recent experience for The Sound of Music and shuffle transit from major malls and GO trains was a success. There should be permanent shuttle transit from those areas to the downtown so people can park away and come and enjoy the downtown. Connecting. Spencer Smith Park to the downtown would be a boom for vendors. I saw this have said here it’s time to reimagine. Lakeshore Road formerly Provincial Highway 2 Is now under municipal control. Closing off the transit of vehicles east west along Lakeshore to and from the QEW would force traffic back north. Hopefully back onto the highway which is the provinces problem. Counselor Kearns said in a recent newsletter that she has recently returned from a trip to Europe. She would have seen pedestrianized zones in many if not all downtown areas.
Close it already, we need pedestrian traffic up and down Brant, encourage other vendors to set up shop along the way. Time to re-imagine downtown free of cars. Plenty of parking at the schools and St Johns and its an easy walk
i have long advocated for this, our downtown needs more traffic than just walking the pier and getting ice cream. There is parking on off lots and maybe we could encourage weekend parking at the schools and St johns church. Time to be a bit more creative in our divergence from cars
One of the side effects would be what we experience when the QEW, 403, Bridge is/are choked, which lately has been once or twice a week.
The result being the area west of Brant and south of Fairview become the alternative routes as does Maple Ave.
The blocking of Brant, would be the death blow to the downtown.
Who are the many,10 ,20, 30 residents or council?
Joe, some time back we suggested that some of Brant Street close to the Lake be pedistrian only . However, the proviso was a better design for the flow of traffic including the use of one way streets before this came into being. The traffic experts being put in charge of whether it was workable or not. Agreed closing it down one day a week is not a good idea.
Could not agree more with Penny. We have a water front park and beach right downtown, there is absolutely no need to shut down Brant Street.
Think about the cost to shut down and reopen on the weekend, all at overtime rates, plus policing at overtime rates. Add to this the carbon footprint of cars taking a longer route sitting in congestion. We are already way over taxed, this just adds to it!
This is a horrible suggestion.
Traffic in this area is a nightmare as it is with patios taking up lanes of traffic, construction trucks, and insufficient roadside parking.
People are avoiding the downtown as it is on a regular basis. This is the last thing we need in this area.