Waterloo Region Connected

(11-09-2020, 12:50 PM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm also encouraged that the region chose to hire him: in spite of some of the staff being stuck in their old ways, there appears to be a will to look to a different future at the management level.

Mucsi will also need to get the cities on board. It's not going to be a quick fix, but effective regional leadership should be very helpful.

Fortunately, the cities are already fairly progressive in this direction.

I was driving along Wilson the other day between Goodrich and Wabanaki, and it looked like an MUT was going in on the east side. (The stripped area appeared wider than it would be for just a sidewalk.) This would be good for the area if true, although the bridge over the railway tracks between Goodrich and Fairway is still quite the bottleneck. Anyone know any more details on this one?

Edit to add: Also, my wife reported recently that the pea gravel section of the Homer Watson MUT through Budd Park is now paved.

(11-10-2020, 10:20 AM)KevinT Wrote: [ -> ]I was driving along Wilson the other day between Goodrich and Wabanaki, and it looked like an MUT was going in on the east side. (The stripped area appeared wider than it would be for just a sidewalk.) This would be good for the area if true, although the bridge over the railway tracks between Goodrich and Fairway is still quite the bottleneck. Anyone know any more details on this one?

Edit to add: Also, my wife reported recently that the pea gravel section of the Homer Watson MUT through Budd Park is now paved.

Yes, I believe they are paving a MUT along Wilson.  However, it won't extend north over the tracks, which is a shame. The biggest problem on Wilson is Traynor to Webster and there are no concrete plans for infra in that section at all right now. The cost will be prohibitively high unless council is willing to reduce the number of lanes going over the bridge, because there isn't room for a MUT on the bridge with four lanes and a sidewalk.

The Budd Park trail was a nice surprise, the city put that together really fast.

(11-10-2020, 10:20 AM)Kevin Wrote: [ -> ]Edit to add: Also, my wife reported recently that the pea gravel section of the Homer Watson MUT through Budd Park is now paved.

That is good news. It annoyed me that they hadn't paved that section along with the rest.

Is there room next to the Wilson rail bridge for a separate pedestrian bridge? I'm thinking similar to the creek bridges put in along Homer Watson and the like.

(11-10-2020, 02:26 PM)KevinL Wrote: [ -> ]Is there room next to the Wilson rail bridge for a separate pedestrian bridge? I'm thinking similar to the creek bridges put in along Homer Watson and the like.

They might be able to widen the span to include an MUT lane on the east side, or hang one off the edge or something, but there doesn't appear to be much room to continue it from the bridge over to Fairway.  

I'd suggest reducing the southbound direction to a single lane, shoving the two northbound lanes over one, and adding a physical barrier to segregate the remaining lane for MUT continuation.

(11-10-2020, 02:26 PM)KevinL Wrote: [ -> ]Is there room next to the Wilson rail bridge for a separate pedestrian bridge? I'm thinking similar to the creek bridges put in along Homer Watson and the like.

I suspect so, but it is a considerably higher span, and would require considerable engineering work to integrate the embankments.  I'm quite certain the cost will be in the millions.

And then near the bridge there may be some conflicts with the plaza parking.

My preferred option would be to right-size the road to three lanes, and to use the space we have at vastly lower cost.  But historically, this is a hard sell...15 minutes of minor congestion is a hard pill to swallow for folks who have their food chewed for them, and yet somehow control the government.

(11-10-2020, 10:58 AM)Acitta Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-10-2020, 10:20 AM)Kevin Wrote: [ -> ]Edit to add: Also, my wife reported recently that the pea gravel section of the Homer Watson MUT through Budd Park is now paved.

That is good news. It annoyed me that they hadn't paved that section along with the rest.

Me, I treasure the small number of unpaved trails in the city! But that's just me ...

(11-10-2020, 03:00 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-10-2020, 02:26 PM)KevinL Wrote: [ -> ]Is there room next to the Wilson rail bridge for a separate pedestrian bridge? I'm thinking similar to the creek bridges put in along Homer Watson and the like.

I suspect so, but it is a considerably higher span, and would require considerable engineering work to integrate the embankments.  I'm quite certain the cost will be in the millions.

And then near the bridge there may be some conflicts with the plaza parking.

My preferred option would be to right-size the road to three lanes, and to use the space we have at vastly lower cost.  But historically, this is a hard sell...15 minutes of minor congestion is a hard pill to swallow for folks who have their food chewed for them, and yet somehow control the government.

How wide are the lanes? Could we reduce each lane by 20-30cm in order to turn the sidewalk into a MUT?

(11-10-2020, 03:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-10-2020, 03:00 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]I suspect so, but it is a considerably higher span, and would require considerable engineering work to integrate the embankments.  I'm quite certain the cost will be in the millions.

And then near the bridge there may be some conflicts with the plaza parking.

My preferred option would be to right-size the road to three lanes, and to use the space we have at vastly lower cost.  But historically, this is a hard sell...15 minutes of minor congestion is a hard pill to swallow for folks who have their food chewed for them, and yet somehow control the government.

How wide are the lanes? Could we reduce each lane by 20-30cm in order to turn the sidewalk into a MUT?

I mean, maybe...if you squeezed everything, and I mean everything, you could do a 3 meter MUT (which is undersized, because as the RoW transportation commissioner DIDN'T know, for cycling infra next to a vertical obstruction, you need to add 0.5 meters as you do for a roadway, so really 2.5 meters which is undersized but still meets the minimum), the lanes look to be about 3.5 meters wide, with a very cramped 1.5 meter sidewalk, you could probably get to the required 3 meter MUT by going to the MTO's minimum standard lane width of 3.15 (which, by the way, the region refuses to actually use as a minimum).

So yes, you could possibly squeeze everything in, in a very uncomfortable situation (provided they are also able to increase the height of the bridge guard rails without using any space, because they are too short to be allowed to be used on a MUT).

But even if you managed to achieve that, you'd still be screwed on the bridge approaches, because there is no sidewalk outside of the bridge...or rather, the sidewalk is only on one side except for on the bridge itself. So on the approaches, you'd be 1.5 meters short, you'd still have to rebuild the embankment.

As far as I can tell, a road right sizing is the only way to do this for a reasonable cost.  Given they have started with MUTs though, I'm thinking the city has already refused such a common sense option and will instead opt for trying to find the money one way to complete this critical link in a wasteful but less contentious way.

Or to put it another very blunt way...there are no fiscal conservatives when it comes to transportation. There are only the foolish, and the wasteful.

Edit: Well, I stand corrected, apparently taking a curb lane---at least for the bridge section---is in the cards. That's great news!

I've ridden that stretch of Wilson many times over the years and it's always boggled my mind that it's a 4-lane road.

(11-10-2020, 09:47 PM)clasher Wrote: [ -> ]I've ridden that stretch of Wilson many times over the years and it's always boggled my mind that it's a 4-lane road.

Yeah, it's pretty unnecessary. Although I'll fully admit, I ride it on weekends, so, I'm not seeing it at it's busiest.

In the theme of absurd 4 lane roads, I give you Dixon:  https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4354614,-...312!8i6656

A tiny residential street that is for some reason a massive four lane arterial Rd.  Worst part, this is part of a major cycling route.

That being said, I think the situation around Wilson and Fairway is a huge obstacle to the success of the LRT...I've taken the train to businesses there, and I've rarely felt less safe or less welcome in the city. Hopefully the Wilson work can at least improve the crossing for pedestrians as well.

(11-07-2020, 07:59 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-07-2020, 06:22 PM)catarctica Wrote: [ -> ]I’m talking about the downtown grid zoom meeting yes. I don’t remember the street name but I saw construction on Ontario (I think) between duke and king so I was a bit convinced it’s for bike lane.

I'm not sure what that construction is, but it's not for the bike lane, the downtown grid hasn't been approved yet.

Ontario was supposed to get a contraflow bike lane between King and Halls Ln. but I think that is on hold pending the Downtown Grid which would replace it.

Ontario is all dug up right now, but the road closure map lists it as "Utility Work", for ~1 month.

Are these Zoom meetings recorded and published anywhere?

(11-10-2020, 10:02 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]In the theme of absurd 4 lane roads, I give you Dixon:  https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4354614,-...312!8i6656

A tiny residential street that is for some reason a massive four lane arterial Rd.  Worst part, this is part of a major cycling route.

That must have been envisioned as a major artery at some time in the long-distant past?

(11-11-2020, 03:12 PM)tomh009 Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-10-2020, 10:02 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: [ -> ]In the theme of absurd 4 lane roads, I give you Dixon:  https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4354614,-...312!8i6656

A tiny residential street that is for some reason a massive four lane arterial Rd.  Worst part, this is part of a major cycling route.

That must have been envisioned as a major artery at some time in the long-distant past?

Yes.  As is the case for most of the overly wide roads in town.