Transportation in Hamilton, Ontario

Transportation in Hamilton, Ontario offers many ways for people to travel. Hamilton is a city in Ontario with roads, streets, and highways for cars and buses. There are also bike paths and sidewalks for people who like to walk.

The city has public buses that help people get around without a car. These buses follow set routes and stop at many places in Hamilton. This helps families, students, and workers get where they need to go.

Hamilton is also connected to larger transportation networks. Some roads lead to nearby cities, and there are highways that connect Hamilton to other parts of Ontario. This helps people travel far from the city for work, visits, or fun.

Good transportation is important in Hamilton because it helps people with their daily lives. Whether someone is going to school, visiting a friend, or heading to work, it makes everything easier.

Air

John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport is near Hamilton Mountain and Mount Hope. It helps move goods by plane and is a busy place for air cargo in Canada. Some airlines, like WestJet, use this airport instead of the bigger Toronto Pearson International Airport to save money. The airport has a museum called the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. As the airport grows, it needs more space for jobs and businesses. People are talking about building a new area called Aerotropolis nearby.

Rail

Canadian National Railways (CN) helps manage traffic in Hamilton by working with smaller rail lines. Over time, many smaller tracks were removed as fewer people used trains. Passenger trains used to run from Hamilton until the 1970s. Today, GO Transit provides train services from Hamilton, with stations like James Street North and a historic building on Hunter Street. GO Transit connects to many towns and cities around Downtown Toronto, linking to bus services and other local transit. The nearest national train station is at Aldershot GO Station in Burlington.

Bus

Hamilton has good bus connections with cities in southern Ontario. GO Transit provides frequent express bus service to Toronto from the Hamilton GO Centre.

Within the city, the Hamilton Street Railway offers good service in the lower city, especially on east-west routes. Service is reduced on the Mountain and is limited outside the old city of Hamilton, except for Dundas, which is served well. The Burlington Transit system also serves Burlington via York Boulevard and the former Highway 2, with connections under the Burlington Skyway Bridge.

Highways and expressways

The following highways and expressways serve Hamilton, Ontario:

• Queen Elizabeth Way, north Hamilton and Stoney Creek
• Highway 403, Ancaster and west Hamilton
• Highway 2, various streets, including York Boulevard and Dundurn Street
• Highway 5, decommissioned in 1997 by the Ontario Government. It now runs from Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners, north.
• Highway 6, Flamborough, Hamilton and Glanbrook, including access to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport
• Highway 8, Dundas (Cootes Drive), Hamilton and Stoney Creek
• Highway 20, East Hamilton
• Highway 53, Rymal Road, Hamilton
• Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway, ‘The LINC,' Mountain
• Red Hill Valley Parkway, Joins the LINC with the QEW, East Hamilton
• Burlington Street (upper deck), north Hamilton

City streets

Hamilton’s streets follow an old grid pattern. The main north-south streets are about half a mile apart, and the east-west streets are about six-tenths of a mile apart. On the Mountain, many streets have the same name as those in the lower city but start with “Upper,” like Upper Garth Street.

Some streets, such as King and Main Streets, run parallel and are usually one-way in opposite directions. This makes driving easy, but some people feel it doesn’t help people walking or support local businesses. When streets like James Street North changed from one-way to two-way, businesses and buildings improved.

Mountain accesses in Hamilton include:

• Beckett’s Drive (Queen Street Access)
• Claremont Access
• Highway 403
• Highway 20
• James Street Access
• Jolley Cut, named after James Jolley
• Kenilworth Access
• Sherman Access
• Upper Centennial Parkway

Bridges

Hamilton, Ontario, has many bridges to help people cross water. The city is building new bridges for the Red Hill Valley Parkway.

Experts check each bridge every two years to make sure it is safe. Some bridges, like the Mary Street bridge, are now paths for walking instead of driving. In 2007, Dundurn Street South was closed for several months for repairs. In 2008, a new bridge opened on Ferguson Avenue North, making it easier for people to walk, bike, and drive. This helped improve roads and paths in the city.