3 blocks of bike lanes around the Hunter Street GO station will happen - finally

It took twoyears and hours of debate, but the area around Hamilton's Hunter Street GO station will finally get three more blocks of bike lanes.

City council voted Wednesday to add a new pick-up and drop-off area nearHaymarket Street, and also a couple of short-term parking spaces on the south side of Hunter Street near the Hamilton central GO station. City staff will also report back on how the two-way bicycle lanes might be impeding motorists and buses.

But as it stands, the area will get bike lanes by the end of the year.

Jason Farr, Ward 2 (downtown) councillor, said he understood why the lanes were contentious with councillors from other parts of the city.

"It's a GO station for everybody," he said. "All of your constituents at one time or another, and some more consistently, are starting and ending their day there. I understand the conveniences you've grown to appreciate."

Council already approved the bike lanes in 2018, and the province is paying most of the cost. There are already bicycle lanes on part of Hunter Street, but to a cyclist heading west, they reach an abrupt end at Catharine Street and don't start again until MacNab.

On Jan. 13, staff told a council committee that the lanes would mean the removal of 33 metered parking spots. That worried some councillors, who said it would be harder for people to drop off and pick up travelers at the GO station. Councillors voted against receiving the report on the design, prompting some cycling advocates to fear it would be cancelled altogether.

Last night, Coun. Tom Jackson of Ward 6 (east Mountain), introduced a compromise, although he said Coun. Terry Whitehead of Ward 8 (west Mountain) did most of the work on it. Whitehead was out of town because of a family emergency.

Maureen Wilson, Ward 1 (west end) councillor, said cars and bicycles aren't "competing interests."

"I just want to underscore that 72 per centof the people who use Hunter Street GOstation get there by foot, by HSR, or by bicycle," she said. "People move there, and nearby there, with the intent that they want to be able to walk there. They want to be able to ride across the city."

Jason Thorne, general manager of planning and economic development, said work can start without council voting on it again.