It's no road diet, but the city will add "interim" pedestrian safety measures on Aberdeen Avenue while the future of the contested roadway remains under study.
The east-west arterial road connects the Queen Street hill to Highway 403 via residential neighbourhoods under the escarpment and sees about 19,000 vehicles a day.
Local residents have increasingly called for a "road diet" basically narrowing the street to slow traffic and more safely allow for cyclists and pedestrians. But lower city and Mountain councillors have clashed over the need to maintain vehicle traffic capacity, particularly with LRT looming in parallel King Street corridor.
Council previously decided to put off major decisions on Aberdeen until after the completion of a long-awaited transportation master plan update, now due in June.
But Monday, traffic staff recommended about $200,000 in "interim" safety upgrades like a crosswalk near the Cottage Street bus stop, a pedestrian crossover at the busy Queen-to-Aberdeen ramp and various small-scale traffic-calming measures.
Public works committee members signed off on the idea, but with an amendment from Mountain Coun. Terry Whitehead to axe the suggested addition of morning street parking west of Dundurn Street.
The change surprised ward Coun. Aidan Johnson, who is not on the committee but later said he would oppose the amendment at council.
"My preference would be to add that lane of parked cars as a buffer," he said, adding the additional parking lane effectively narrows the street and would act to slow traffic in an area where kids walk to school.
The report noted Aberdeen was expected to attract more cars once LRT begins, displacing vehicle traffic on King Street, but traffic staff wouldn't reveal Monday whether the updated transportation master plan will rule out a road diet altogether.
Whitehead expressed concern about whether the "interim" measures mean more narrowing is yet to come "when the other shoe drops."
Johnson, by contrast, called the interim measures a "decent compromise" but made clear his preference remains a road diet on Aberdeen. "There's no doubt its an arterial road, but it's also a residential road," he said after the meeting.
Coun. Chad Collins also asked during the meeting if the city was going to spend money on changes it will have to "undo" later if traffic counts climb on Aberdeen. Traffic head Martin White said he was confident the proposed short-term changes would not affect the capacity of the road in the future and can be easily removed, if necessary.
Read more here:
Interim pedestrian safety measures expected for Aberdeen - Hamilton Spectator
