Former city engineer questioned in Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry

The city of Hamilton’s Chief Engineer who oversaw the Red Hill Valley Parkway for years underwent his fourth straight day of questioning regarding a safety report that warned of the road’s dangerous condition.

Former Hamilton head engineer, Gary Moore oversaw the operation of the Red Hill Valley Parkway and was asked by city and commissioned lawyers about Moore’s reluctance to share a safety report with city officials.

The report was commissioned by Golder Associates in 2014. The report was part of a six-year performance review of the highway after it opened in 2007.

Moore says he didn’t share the report with city staff because he felt it was “half-done.” Moore had issues with certain details, primarily the fact that the report compares the highway’s friction levels to U.K. standards. Canada does not have its own standards for friction.

Moore says he reached out to Ludomir Uzarowski from Golder to clarify the friction data, but Moore says he never heard back. Moore doesn’t recall receiving any safety concerns from Uzarowski.

This contradicts Uzarowski’s statement given last month. Uzarowski told the investigation that it was the city that showed no motivation on correcting his concerns about the parkway’s safety. In June, Uzarowski told the inquiry in June that he provided the city with “…recommendations, contractors’ costs, anything I could do. The city decided not to follow.”

Moore told the inquiry that he saw Uzarowski’s concerns as recommendations and not strictly as safety concerns that needed immediate attention.

The report remained hidden from municipal staff until 2019, in that time four people were killed on the highway and hundreds of crashes occurred.

The Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry is costing taxpayers $18 million.