Public hearings for Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway judicial inquiry have begun

A public inquiry into unanswered questions about the safety of Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway began via virtual hearings on Monday.

At the centre of the query is a 2013 city staff report on the surface of the roadway — a document that was allegedly buried for six years.

The study suggested friction levels in some areas of the roadway were below safety standards.

City council has long insisted the report was never brought to its attention.

The first part of the probe is expected to run until August and focus on questions tied to the construction of the parkway, friction testing conducted by Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, consultant and staff reports as well as the discovery of the 2013 report.

Commissioner Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel is at the helm of the inquiry, appointed in May 2019.

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The commissioner is expected to determine facts relating to 24 questions posed by city council, which fall into five general categories.

They include why testing from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation on the Red Hill Valley Parkway in 2007 was not disclosed to city council or the public, what the standards are for friction testing in Ontario, and other factors that potentially contributed to motor vehicle accidents on the thoroughfare.

2:50 Hamilton city council approves judicial inquiry over lost study

The inquiry is expected to cost the city between $18 and $20 million.

Separate from the inquiry, family members of alleged victims are involved in a multi-million dollar claim citing improper design and maintenance of the parkway precipitating crashes on the roadway.

Two law firms, Grosso Hooper and Scarfone Hawkins represent groups involved in a $250-million proposed class-action suit against the City of Hamilton, filed on behalf of drivers who said they crashed on the parkway since its opening in 2007.

Wilton-Siegel has excluded the participation of crash victims and families from the process.

The public will be able to view each day’s proceedings through the inquiry’s YouTube link.

Hearings are expected to run daily from Monday to Thursday each week, 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a mid-day break.