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Trails
(10-18-2017, 10:18 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I was happy when I first saw that they had tamped down a triangular area next to the sidewalk and connecting to the trail, but they only paved one side of the triangle and are sodding the rest.

If you are travelling southbound on Belmont to go westbound on the trail it makes for a really awkward turn from the road to the trail and the desire line from the sidewalk to the trail is right over fresh sod:

Looking west along the trail at Belmont:




At least the part they did pave lines up with the new refuge island.

By the way Belmont should open up any day now. All that looks left to be done is sodding.

Interestingly, it looks like all the driveways between Highland and Victoria were redone in concrete instead of asphalt.

Also, I was hoping GRT was going to take advantage of the work so re-space the stops between that stretch, but the bus pads are back where they were before (Victoria to Edgewood (150m), Edgewood to Metzloff (150m), Metzloff to Sobey's plaza (Highland) (140m).

That's the case for all road reconstructions these days, is it not?
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Yes, I think that is standard for reconstruction.
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(10-18-2017, 10:18 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I was happy when I first saw that they had tamped down a triangular area next to the sidewalk and connecting to the trail, but they only paved one side of the triangle and are sodding the rest.

If you are travelling southbound on Belmont to go westbound on the trail it makes for a really awkward turn from the road to the trail and the desire line from the sidewalk to the trail is right over fresh sod:

I'm noticing that happening a lot lately.
The Laurel Trail at Weber was pushed around, and they fixed one desire line through grass, but created another while they were at it.

It seems like all these trail reconstructions are coming out in a wash lately. Intersection designs are trying so hard to be "correct", that they forget what is "good".
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Laurel Trail at Weber? Do you mean the Spur Line Trail?
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No, it's the Laurel Trail at that point:

https://goo.gl/maps/Zd3BQR4Dchk

   
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Oh, right. Thanks.
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(10-18-2017, 10:47 PM)panamaniac Wrote:
(10-18-2017, 10:18 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: I was happy when I first saw that they had tamped down a triangular area next to the sidewalk and connecting to the trail, but they only paved one side of the triangle and are sodding the rest.

If you are travelling southbound on Belmont to go westbound on the trail it makes for a really awkward turn from the road to the trail and the desire line from the sidewalk to the trail is right over fresh sod:

Looking west along the trail at Belmont:




At least the part they did pave lines up with the new refuge island.

By the way Belmont should open up any day now. All that looks left to be done is sodding.

Interestingly, it looks like all the driveways between Highland and Victoria were redone in concrete instead of asphalt.

Also, I was hoping GRT was going to take advantage of the work so re-space the stops between that stretch, but the bus pads are back where they were before (Victoria to Edgewood (150m), Edgewood to Metzloff (150m), Metzloff to Sobey's plaza (Highland) (140m).

That's the case for all road reconstructions these days, is it not?

That was the case on all the streets in my neighbourhood.  I wonder what the reasoning is.

So if they fixed the trail on one side, how the hell did they fail to connect the trail on the other side?!
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Progress on the central promenade:
   
   
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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The PCC materials are out for the active transportation bridge over highway 7.

The preferred alignment option is "Alternative 1B (bridge located at the end of Southmoor Drive with straight ramps and stairs at each end of the bridge)" and the preferred bridge type is "Bridge Type 1 Steel truss or Bridge Type 2 (Concrete U-Girder)."
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Holy smokes. I’m not one to complain about spending money on infrastructure, but $7.6 million?! Wasn’t the Margaret St. Bridge rebuild like $4M, and they balked at spending an extra $1M to accommodate a potential third HSR track?
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(10-20-2017, 08:01 PM)Canard Wrote: Holy smokes. I’m not one to complain about spending money on infrastructure, but $7.6 million?! Wasn’t the Margaret St. Bridge rebuild like $4M, and they balked at spending an extra $1M to accommodate a potential third HSR track?

I don’t know much about this sort of construction, but I suspect this bridge is much longer than one would think. Obviously it’s a lot narrower but the length will introduce more construction work. Eyeballing it in Google Maps, I estimate that just the actual bridge part over the expressway is about twice as long as the Margaret St. bridge, and on top of that there are long ramps at both ends, each of which is almost as long as the bridge itself. Having said that, it does seem like a large budget for a pedestrian bridge. It doesn’t need to be able to support large trucks, after all.
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What is on either side of the potential bridge in the area?
I know Zehrs is on one side but not really sure what else is around in the area.
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Mostly post-war suburbs to the "north" of the expressway and the Ottawa St box mall/commercial strip to the "south".  For the serious walker/cyclist, a "short cut" from Ottawa St to (for example) St Mary's Hospital and Downtown.  For the burbs to the north, easier access to the Ottawa St express bus and to McLennan Park.
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(02-24-2017, 11:06 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Kitchener staff report on the proposed Balzer Creek path:
http://www.kitchener.ca/en/Calendar/Down...6fbd2f2225

This link appears to be broken; couldn't find any further information on the City of Kitchener site about this. Has anyone got an update on what the status of this trail is? Where exactly were the improvements done, and what are the details of the work completed?

Thanks in advance!
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(10-21-2017, 11:17 AM)Canard Wrote:
(02-24-2017, 11:06 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Kitchener staff report on the proposed Balzer Creek path:
http://www.kitchener.ca/en/Calendar/Down...6fbd2f2225

This link appears to be broken; couldn't find any further information on the City of Kitchener site about this.  Has anyone got an update on what the status of this trail is?  Where exactly were the improvements done, and what are the details of the work completed?

Thanks in advance!

Looks like the City of Kitchener has "improved" their website rendering previous links useless and providing a cryptic set of directories to navigate instead.

Here is the link to the original staff report.

Here are the minutes from that meeting.

CBC article.
Record article 1.
Record article 2.

Looks like is was passed and was to be built as part of the Balzer creek rehabilitation in 2017.

I'm hoping TriTag is going to do a construction-season wrap up of what was promised compared to what was delivered in their map from earlier this year.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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