The Hamilton Transportation Task Force, charged by the province to evaluate how best to spend $1 billion on the city’s transportation needs, has received a two-week extension to its Feb. 28 deadline.
The task force is expected to evaluate options and advise Caroline Mulroney, Ontario’s transportation minister. Task force chair Tony Valeri wrote to the minister Feb. 24 saying “there is consensus among all members that additional work is required before finalizing the preliminary list of transit and transportation projects.
“This extension would allow the task force to continue discussions over the next few meetings and further engage with the ministry, Metrolinx and City staff to complete the work underway and recommend transit and transportation projects that are of substantial benefit to the residents of Hamilton.”
A preliminary list of projects would be submitted to the minister by March 16, Valeri said. Mulroney wrote back the same day approving the request.
“People in Hamilton deserve transportation investments that are realistic and affordable. I appreciate the work that the task force is doing for the City of Hamilton,” she wrote.
The task force was appointed by Mulroney Jan. 23, a month after the ministry cancelled Metrolinx’s proposed Hamilton LRT project, citing escalating costs. Valeri, the chair, is vice-president of corporate affairs at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, a former federal minister of transport and a former Liberal MP.
Other members include:
- LIUNA director of government relations Anthony Primerano
- Richard J. Brennan, retired Toronto Star reporter
- Saiedeh Razavi, director of the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, associate professor at the Department of Civil Engineering
- Janette Smith, city manager at the City of Hamilton.
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