Hamilton residents and motorists groan as city schedules more road closures

The City of Hamilton is set to see even more road closures, as locals become increasingly frustrated by their frequency and lengthy timelines.

Some impending road closures include a complete shutdown of the Sherman Access, and construction on Queen Street North.

Every summer Hamiltonians have come to expect summertime construction, but it’s still frustrating for many pedestrians and drivers alike and the city said there’s more to come.

This weekend, intersection reconstruction will happen on Queen Street North and Cannon Street West, and the Sherman Access will be closed for maintenance.

Next week, concrete work will close the eastbound lanes on York Boulevard from Dundurn Street North to Bay Street North, and intersection work will shut down the area at Wilson Street and Wentworth Street North until the end of the month.

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“It just seems to be constant and it seems to be never-ending, and it’s one intersection after another, then more construction,” said one person who spoke with CHCH News. “They did construction a while ago on Aberdeen and they finished that up, and all of a sudden they’re doing construction again.”

“Certainly, in the downtown core, there’s road blockages here, and you can’t go this way, or it’s one way just to accommodate the construction,” another person said to CHCH News.

“I do Uber now and it’s hard to get in and out – there’s traffic everywhere, it’s crazy out there to drive,” said someone who drives through Hamilton often. “All the speed bumps and all the traffic that go this way or that way — this is closed and that’s not closed — it’s kinda crazy.”

CHCH News asked city staff about the amount of construction happening this year.

They said these projects are a part of an overall plan to spend up to $120 million for repairs.

“We probably have another 25 projects that we have on-the-go that would range from watermain projects, sanitary projects, to other road reconstruction projects,” said Ed English, the construction manager with the City of Hamilton.

Another driver told CHCH News that he drives through several cities in the summer, and feels Hamilton is not that bad in comparison.

“You know, I get why there’s a lot of construction in the summer months,” said the driver. “You know it’s not as challenging as downtown Toronto, or Vancouver, that’s for sure.”

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