Finally! Excellent news!
Completion of Rail Trail link under way
Daniel Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...link-under-way
Construction begins today on the long-talked about trail linking the Kirkendall Neighbourhood with the Rail Trail near the boundary of old Dundas.
The link between the Chedoke Golf Course and Ewen Road has been talked about for years, but gained traction in 2006 after Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to sell the link to the city. Delays occurred over disagreements on the price for the land between the city and CP Rail and opposition by some residents to paving the path. The trail will travel over a disused overpass that crosses Highway 403.
The nearly $2 million project work will see the city remove the remaining spur line crossing Leland Street, Emerson Street, Broadway Avenue and Stroud Road. The trail will be paved. Work on converting the line into a trail is expected to be done by September.
Some already regularly walk the line or the dirt path beside the tracks. It cost the city about $750,000 to buy the land from CP Rail, plus a one-time $150,000 lease cost that would cover lands through the Aberdeen rail yard, right beside the golf course.
The rails are the last remnants of the old Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway line between Hamilton and Brantford. The line opened in 1892, but rail movements along it halted in 1986 after it was washed out by a Grand River landslide in Brantford. It was converted into the 32-kilometre Rail Trail and opened in May 1993.
The new trail will extend the existing Rail Trail almost to Dundurn Street South. The trail will be 1.8 kilometres long with a pathway ranging in width from 4.5 to 5 metres. Timed controls will turn the pathway lights off during the late night and early morning hours to minimize electrical energy consumption.
The project will also involve a new traffic signal at Aberdeen Avenue and Studholme Road, which will be specially designed to allow cyclists to have a head start over vehicles when the signal changes from red to green. The layout is referred to as either an ‘Advanced Stop Line’ or a ‘Bike Box’ and will the first of its kind in Hamilton.
Plus here's a link to the map:
http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...ylettermap.pdf