LRT- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

You may recall that in anticipation of the vote on LRT, Mayor Eisenberger asked staff for a paper to guide councillors through the pros and cons of LRT.  And while the Mayor asked for the good and the bad, it appears as if he didn't ask for the ugly. Clr. Donna Skelly recently took some heat for expressing concerns over the, in her view, poor aesthetics that overhead lines have had on a neighbouring town's installation of LRT and was concerned over what overhead lines might look like in Hamilton. 

We touched base with Paul Johnson , on this topic. Enjoy our chat with Paul:

Recently, at least one councillor expressed concern over the potential poor aesthetics overhead lines may have in a LRT implementation in Hamilton. What can be known at this point in time as to how many overhead lines will be in place, where these locations will be, how many are needed and what they might look like. In the LRT considerations, to what extent was this considered and discussed and are there any realistic artistic renderings that may give us a visual of how these lines would present in Hamilton?

Paul replied as follows:

Thank you for your question about the Overhead Contact System (OCS) used to provide power to Hamilton’s LRT system. By way of background, light rail vehicles are electrically-powered, and the electricity is delivered from power substations located along the corridor to an overhead wire running above the tracks. Overhead wires are suspended through different methods, depending on the characteristics of the corridor.

· Centre poles are located between the tracks with the wire suspended on either side.
· Side poles are located at the side of the road or sidewalk, with arms or support wires extending across the roadway and LRT tracks.
· Building mounts can be used in narrow corridors where appropriate mounting locations are available.
· Both side and centre OCS poles can be combined with street light poles to minimize intrusion.

The design of the OCS is not finalized at this time but I can share that our goal for the OCS is to employ design improvements to lessen the visual impact. Examples include:

· Poles shall be spaced as far apart as possible and maintain approximately equal spacing along the line.
· OCS poles will be coloured to match other street elements and blend with other city street furniture that contribute to the character of the corridor.
· Where possible, OCS poles will not be located on platforms.
· OCS poles shall be designed and located to not impede pedestrian flow.
· Support poles shall be slender, tapered and as visually unobtrusive as possible.
· Poles shall be consolidated where possible (i.e. shared OCS and street lighting poles).
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The Eastgate Solution & The Gong Show?

We suspect it won't feel this way to some, but arguably the critical approach to LRT from Clrs. such as Terry Whitehead and Donna Skelly, may have led to a LRT solution that better fits Hamilton. Most assuredly, without their interjections, LRT, if it proceeded, would have stopped at the traffic circle in its initial phase. Not many would doubt that ending at Eastgate Square makes greater sense. Of course, credit also has to go to Mayor Eisenberger who weathered the storm and kept at it. Without him, the project also would have failed.

But success is not yet assured. The Mayor himself, as quoted in The Spec warned that unless we all hold hands on this, it could turn into a gong show. Clr. Conley also continued to express his concerns.

For now, LRT lives another day and may end up being the success that some envision.

Your thoughts?