Hanlon Upgrades No Benefit to City

(January 22) - I don’t know what’s the matter with traffic lights. They control flow on busy roads fairly well, forcing some cars to stop while other ones go. On lightly used streets, stop signs do the same job just as effectively. The thing most people have against the lights on the Hanlon is that they aren’t synchronized. On a bad day it might take an extra ten minutes to get to the 401. Looking at a normal scale of aggravations, this should be no more than a notch or two higher than having to stop at the intersection of Kathleen and Tipperary Streets. In other words, nothing most people can’t handle.

Upgrading to synchronized lights wouldn’t be difficult, nor would it be expensive. Compared to a cloverleaf overpass, they cost next to nothing. Compared to three or four overpasses, the cost of new lights is chump change. This should make us all wonder. If the people in the Ministry of Transportation want to fix the Hanlon, why are they going about it the way they are? The McGuinty government says it is dedicated to the wise use of taxpayers’ money. If this is the case, you’d think they’d just slide on over to the Wal-Mart and buy a set of inexpensive Made in China traffic lights coated in the cheapest available lead-based paint. Or, if the Boxing Day sales were still on, they could go to a slightly more upscale store like Zellers and pick up a set of roundabouts. They’re better than traffic lights because they don’t use electricity and could save us money down the road.

Unless fixing the Hanlon is not what it’s all about. The Ministry has engaged Stantec Consulting Inc. to sell their plan to us. They say on their web site that the Ministry’s ultimate goal “is to convert the Expressway to a fully-controlled access facility.” There is already a preferred plan. It involves running College Ave. under the Hanlon, and building interchanges at Stone Rd., Kortright Rd., Laird Rd. and County Rd. 54.

Without a doubt, this will inflict serious harm on residential neighbourhoods close to the expressway. And why? To create a short cut from American border points on the Niagara Peninsula to Highway 400 between Barrie and Toronto. About 300 people went to a public consultation meeting at the Holiday Inn last week. Most of them said they would rather not have Highway Four O’Hanlon running past their kitchen windows. Stantec’s job is to listen, and then explain that they know better. They are supposed to convince the unwary that the Ministry knows best, and help build a future where, in Joni Mitchell’s immortal words, they can pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

The Hanlon Expressway was a bad idea when it was dreamt up 40 years ago. It goes from the 401 to Woodlawn Rd. and cannot go any further north or south without running over environmentally sensitive wetlands. They might have got away with it if they’d acted quickly. In those long ago and almost forgotten days governments thought planning was easy. A steel girder here, a load of cement there and you’re on the fast track to a happy future. The tadpoles and finches could always move to the wetland next door. Not now. We have become much more aware of the consequences of our actions. Our planning decisions have to factor in the economic, social and environmental health of communities. The economic has no value if the social and environmental are allowed to waste away.

The highway belongs to the Province. It’s their property, but that doesn’t mean they can do what they want with it regardless of the consequences. The community it runs through is ours and we have the right to say what uses will be made of it. We can, and should, and must tell the province we will not allow their dogma to chase our karma.

Our city council established a good working relationship with the province on the land around the former reformatory on York Rd. They have shown that provincial and municipal planners can row in the same direction when they understand each other’s priorities. The goodwill earned in that exercise can be brought to bear on the Hanlon. I fear it will take more than goodwill to save our south. It will take people expressing their opinion. You can help by signing a petition available at the CFRU booth in the Farmers’ Market and at some retail outlets around town.