City making progress on the Red Hill Valley Parkway Action Plan

Red Hill Valley Parkway Judicial Inquiry Recommendations

The 36 recommendations and action items from the RHVPJI are grouped into eight different categories:

• Traffic Safety on the Red Hill Valley Parkways and Lincoln M Alexander Parkway
• Delineating the Roles and Responsibilities of City Staff
• The Culture within the Public Works Department
• Information Sharing and Communication among Staff
• Staff Reporting Obligations
• Staff Communications with Media and Public
• Consultant Engagements and Assignments
• Staff Reports

“While there’s still more work to do, the City is taking meaningful steps to strengthen transparency, improve information sharing with Council and the public, and enhance collaboration across departments,” said Marnie Cluckie, City Manager. “We are committed to doing this work - learning from the Inquiry, acknowledging past mistakes, and keeping the community informed on progress.”

Completed Action Items

The Interdepartmental Working Group has identified 36 actionable items from the 36 recommendations. Nine of these key action items have been completed so far, seven of them related to Traffic Safety, one on Culture within the Public Works and one on Consultant Engagements and Assignments.

Traffic Safety on the Red Hill Valley Parkways and Lincoln M Alexander Parkway is the largest category of the eight, accounting for 20 of the total 36 Action Items. The City has completed seven, including the Annual Collision Report which presents an overview of road safety based on the last five years. A Parkway Management Committee has been formed with safety as a standing agenda item.

Another Traffic Safety item was the appointment of a Chief Roads Official, whose role has been merged into the Director of Transportation’s role. The City has also created new procedures and initiatives, including: the Public Works Project Management procedure, the Public Works Asset Responsibilities within the Right-of-Way procedure, the Escarpment Access Closure Procedure, and an ongoing Network Screening List.

The completed item for the Culture within the Public Works Department is an updated Public Works Departmental Training Procedure to reinforce with staff the importance of completing their Code of Conduct training.

The Creation of a Tracking and Sharing Consultant Report Recommendations and Actions – Public Works Standard Operating Procedure is the completed item for Consultant Engagements and Assignments. It clearly defines staff's responsibilities when receiving consultant reports.

The City has a dedicated web page at hamilton.ca/rhvp with information about the Inquiry, steps taken to date, updates on progress being made, and actions the City will take to ensure transparency and rebuild public trust.