No construction project in the history of the city has been so contentious or costly. The Red Hill Valley Parkway was first formally proposed in 1957. It has taken half a century and $245 million to get to this point. The eight-kilometre road -- a six-minute drive at the 90 km/h speed limit -- cost roughly $33,000 a metre.
There have been protests, lawsuits, intergovernmental fights and endless community debates. The road, in many ways, is like an overhyped movie Hamiltonians will finally get to see -- if they choose to drive it.
First proposed when the car was king and its future seemed limitless, the parkway is making its debut in an age when congestion, global warming and economics are forcing drivers to re-examine how they get from here to there.
The predictions of success and failure have been argued to the extreme. The parkway's backers see it as the path to economic development on the east Mountain. They predict the four-lane highway will attract investors to the North Glanbrook and airport industrial lands, securing desperately needed jobs and tax dollars.
The philosophy is Build It and They Will Come.
Today it opens. Source...
