The public gets its first chance Tuesday to weigh in on what's to become of a dedicated cycling route up and down Hamilton's Claremont Access.

Pedalling up the Mountain on the right side is one thing, but a route to coast down is complicated by an unstable rocky slope from where debris has spilled onto the road.

"That sort of throws a kink in really figuring out a downbound lane," Dave Ferguson, superintendent of traffic engineering, said Monday.

The inside downbound lane of the Claremont Access has been closed since a rock slide destroyed two retaining walls on the cliff in 2012.

Since then, engineers have monitored the stability of the slope.

"We are in the process of having the study updated and the slope reassessed," engineering director Gary Moore said Monday.

"However," he added, "we are waiting for the outcome of the cycle study to determine a course of action."

The cycling master plan had envisioned a downbound route in that traffic lane but officials then considered the outer, upbound side.

"The option would obviously be a cycle track," Ferguson said.

The model for that is the Cannon Street bike track, which offers cyclists two lanes — one for riders heading west and the other for those going east — on the south side of the road.

"There's no specific thing that we're targeting right now. We're looking at all options," Ferguson added.

Safety on the Claremont was thrust into the spotlight after Jay Keddy, a 55-year-old elementary school teacher, was struck and killed while biking up the hill Dec. 2.

City staff expect a report on the access cycling project to be presented to councillors in time for 2017 budget deliberations.

On Tuesday evening, the city is hosting an information session on design options for the access cycling route.

The 7 p.m. drop-in forum at Central Memorial Recreation Centre is a chance for staff to provide details, show boards with maps and gather feedback from the public.

The study area is 2.5 kilometres long, starting at the bottom of the hill from near Wellington Street South to Upper James Street at the top, extending to West 5th Street.

The effort also contemplates connections to other streets, trails and parks.

All of that is important, says Johanna Bleecker, co-director of Cycle Hamilton.

The Claremont Access is a major artery in the middle of the city, she said. A dedicated bike route would benefit many cyclists who regularly travel between the lower city and Mountain.

"We can't have this as some sort of weak link in the cycling network since it's going to be right in the middle of the city."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Bleecker specified that any route ought to be "two-way" and "fully protected," shielded from automobile traffic by a barrier.

Whether it should be a two-way cycle track on one side or lanes on opposite sides of the hill will depend on how the design develops, she said.

Public meeting What: Drop-in information session about cycling and pedestrian facilities on the Claremont Access

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Where: Central Memorial Recreation Centre, 93 West Ave. S.

Teviah Moro Teviah Moro is an editor and reporter with The Hamilton Spectator. Email | Twitter

Previous articles:

Hamilton pulls Christian Heritage transgender-protest ads from HSR bus shelters

Downtown renewal: Homegrown to be 'reborn' in old Windsor hotel

Tower planned for Corktown low-rise rental complex