RHVP inquiry hears from Hamilton mayor on buried report

The City of Hamilton knew there were concerns about the safety of the Red Hill Valley Parkway years before a report on the road’s subpar friction levels came to light.

The inquiry into why that report was buried for years heard from Mayor Fred Eisenberger today. Eisenberger said that even after he was briefed on the damning friction study he didn’t feel any urgency because he was reassured the road was safe.

In 2015, when a tragic crash on the Red Hill Valley Parkway claimed the lives of Olivia Smosarski and Jordyn Hastings there were talks at the city level about addressing safety concerns on the road like potentially adding a middle barrier, or reducing the speed limit.

Then again in 2017, a 26-year-old man was killed on the Red Hill, but Mayor Fred Eisenberger says friction never came to mind until he was briefed in 2018 by senior city staff about a report from years prior that showed parts of the road were slipperier than they should be.

“They had discovered this report that was a bit of an outlier,” the mayor told the hearing today. He explained that it was an outlier because it was contrary to everything former city engineer Gary Moore had been telling the council. The road was safe, and the friction was fine.

“That inconsistency was a concern,” Eisenberger testified today, but he didn’t want to rush staff into throwing together a presentation to inform the rest of council about the situation.

“From my perspective, there was no sense of urgency,” the mayor said today, adding that he was told by staff that the road was safe and no additional safety measures needed to be taken immediately.

Eisenberger testified that he asked staff to put together a comprehensive and fulsome summary to present to council.

When staff told councillors about the buried report at an in-camera meeting in January of 2019, Eisenberger said “there was frustration and dismay,” from the elected officials, especially from those who had previously asked questions about the safety of the parkway.

A few months ago when the city’s former top engineer Gary Moore testified at this inquiry he said he didn’t share the report because he felt like it was half done, and had issues with some of the details. Specifically, the friction of the Red Hill being compared to U.K. standards, as Canada doesn’t have standards for friction.

The probe continues tomorrow.