Hamilton’s mayor has testified before an inquiry that is looking into a buried report that raised concerns about the safety of the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
Fred Eisenberger, under questioning on Wednesday, was asked to reflect on a meeting with senior staff in December 2018, when he was informed of a previously withheld 2013 study that raised questions about the slipperiness of the collision-prone parkway’s surface.
For anyone who had an accident on the roadway, Eisenberger said his first reaction was that they would “make an assumption that it was the friction of the roadway that was the cause, even though that may or may not be accurate.”
“If I were a parent, and I had lost a child or had someone that was involved in an accident, I’m sure I would have turned my mind in exactly the same way,” Eisenberger said.
The mayor added that his priority was to ensure the Tradewind report was presented to council “as expeditiously as possible, but as thoroughly as possible.”
Eisenberger also speculated during his testimony that the report was withheld, years earlier, because the city’s director of engineering at the time had deemed the results to be “inconclusive.”
The former director testified previously before the inquiry, describing the report as “half done” and adding that he had issues with some of the details.
City council was briefed about the existence of the report in January 2019, after which it voted to request a judicial inquiry.
Since the opening of the parkway in 2007, a number of crash victims and families of victims have contested improper design and maintenance over the years has led to numerous incidents.
The city spent $8.5 million on an emergency resurfacing of the parkway in 2019.