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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
In fairness, Lackner demonstrates that even marked bike lanes can randomly disappear and reappear. I agree that safety-wise, this situation isn't really ideal, but it is nice to have a bit of a buffer on the shoulder still, even if it isn't technically a lane.
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I laugh every time I ride on Lackner. I assume it's a work in progress.
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(06-12-2017, 11:01 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Actually in an ideal world every major arterial road would have a segregated cycle path, and that "ideal world" is the Netherlands.

Most, but certainly not all roads.  Much of central Amsterdam has no room for segregated bike lanes, for example.  Here is a sample:
https://goo.gl/maps/ZcDtZWSEKgS2
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(06-14-2017, 10:01 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(06-12-2017, 11:01 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Actually in an ideal world every major arterial road would have a segregated cycle path, and that "ideal world" is the Netherlands.

Most, but certainly not all roads.  Much of central Amsterdam has no room for segregated bike lanes, for example.  Here is a sample:
https://goo.gl/maps/ZcDtZWSEKgS2

I did say "major arterial road"....

And also, as some of our city councillors love to point out, we aren't Amsterdam, in our city, there are few roads which don't have room for appropriate cycling infrastructure.

But even roads which have no room are designed differently from here.
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So, which stations will have on demand heating?
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hi Iain, Conestoga, Northfield, GRH, Block Line and Fairway stops will have on demand heating</p>&mdash; ION (@rideIONrt) <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/768442516517552128">August 24, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Thanks, not a bad list.
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(06-11-2017, 05:56 PM)Canard Wrote: Lazy update, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some of the stations for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> will have on-demand heating in the stations. <a href="https://t.co/Wolu81CNRP">pic.twitter.com/Wolu81CNRP</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/874008828248981505">June 11, 2017</a></blockquote>

...and more importantly:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Surprise! Looks like we're getting bike lanes on King after all!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BikeWR?src=hash">#BikeWR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TriTAG">@TriTAG</a> <a href="https://t.co/91onmGzoVV">pic.twitter.com/91onmGzoVV</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/874017620063858688">June 11, 2017</a></blockquote>

We got bike lanes after all!! Heart  They're on both sides of King on the brand-new paved section.  I expect to see 'em all the way up along King as that final layer goes down and the markings go on!

I visited yesterday, because I was curious. I can say with good confidence that there are no bike lanes of any description from the Waterloo Spur down to Allen St. From there, there is a space that could be used as a bike lane but has no indication of officially being one, until almost Union. Northbound, there is a similar space from Union north to almost John St., where it suddenly disappears and does not re-appear. Unfortunate, because there is ample space almost everywhere (the Allen Station is the only place where there is a real shortage of space), they just didn’t think about bikes when designing the LRT.

Which is weird. They are holding public meetings about installing sidewalk on one block of one side of Westmount. Why weren’t public meetings held to validate the detailed street design associated with the LRT?
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(06-14-2017, 01:00 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: I visited yesterday, because I was curious.

Northbound, there is a similar space from Union north to almost John St., where it suddenly disappears and does not re-appear. Unfortunate, because there is ample space almost everywhere (the Allen Station is the only place where there is a real shortage of space), they just didn’t think about bikes when designing the LRT.

There has been extensive discussion on facebook about this:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/81680629...492009051/

Reporter Luisa D'Amato talked to Tom Galloway about this today:
Quote: I talked to Coun. Tom Galloway about this today. He said, as many of you already know, that they are not bike lanes, but paved shoulders. In part they are there to direct drivers, and in winter, they will be where the snowplow leaves the snow. Cyclists are welcome to use King St., he said,, but the lack of infrastructure indicates the planning model that encourages cyclists to stay off busy regional roads like King St. I didn't know that -- I thought bike lanes were supposed to be built whenever a road was rebuilt. Coming away from this I thought a) there should be a sign warning it is not a bike lane; b) As a pedestrian, PLEASE don't use the sidewalks unless you are willing to get off and walk when passing a pedestrian. It is very scary when a bike swoops by and misses you by half an inch. And it is also illegal to be on the sidewalk except for kids' bikes. Solving your own problem by endangering other people is not great public relations for the group.

Which is about as much as I expected. "It wasn't designed for bikes, so... oh well!"
As for the sidewalk cycling, I will continue to make judgements based on my safety. The new sidewalks in this section are thankfully much wider, reducing conflict.
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If these 'shoulders' are not intended for traffic of any kind, they should be marked as such; diagonal stripes are, I think, the standard method.
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(06-14-2017, 02:50 PM)Markster Wrote:
Quote:I talked to Coun. Tom Galloway about this today. He said, as many of you already know, that they are not bike lanes, but paved shoulders. In part they are there to direct drivers, and in winter, they will be where the snowplow leaves the snow. Cyclists are welcome to use King St., he said,, but the lack of infrastructure indicates the planning model that encourages cyclists to stay off busy regional roads like King St. I didn't know that -- I thought bike lanes were supposed to be built whenever a road was rebuilt. Coming away from this I thought a) there should be a sign warning it is not a bike lane; b) As a pedestrian, PLEASE don't use the sidewalks unless you are willing to get off and walk when passing a pedestrian. It is very scary when a bike swoops by and misses you by half an inch. And it is also illegal to be on the sidewalk except for kids' bikes. Solving your own problem by endangering other people is not great public relations for the group.

Which is about as much as I expected.  "It wasn't designed for bikes, so... oh well!"
As for the sidewalk cycling, I will continue to make judgements based on my safety.  The new sidewalks in this section are thankfully much wider, reducing conflict.

This answer from Galloway really bugs me.  I'm willing to accept a policy whereby cyclists are encouraged to use other routes to destinations and avoid busy through roads.  But King is not a through road.  I want to go places on King St.  How can I do that?  Am I as a cyclist simply not allowed to safely visit those businesses?  If I was a business owner on that road I would be livid about such an answer.
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(06-14-2017, 03:49 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(06-14-2017, 02:50 PM)Markster Wrote: Which is about as much as I expected.  "It wasn't designed for bikes, so... oh well!"
As for the sidewalk cycling, I will continue to make judgements based on my safety.  The new sidewalks in this section are thankfully much wider, reducing conflict.

This answer from Galloway really bugs me.  I'm willing to accept a policy whereby cyclists are encouraged to use other routes to destinations and avoid busy through roads.  But King is not a through road.  I want to go places on King St.  How can I do that?  Am I as a cyclist simply not allowed to safely visit those businesses?  If I was a business owner on that road I would be livid about such an answer.

Any road with no bike lanes should have a speed limit of maybe 35km/h or whatever a good speed limit for bicycles is, strictly enforced. If there is a need for motor traffic to go faster, then it needs to be segregated from bicycle traffic so that it can actually do so.

It’s weird. I think it’s fair to say that cyclists and pedestrians are getting more than lip service overall, but the same old double standard still exists, where it’s not taken as a given that they need to be accommodated by road design.
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Those new shoulders remind of the faux-bike lanes on Queen St S. I was glad that they had finally faded enough not to be noticed and then they repainted them in the last week or so!

Hopefully they can remove the lines or at least "hatch" out the space so it is clear no vehicle, motorized or otherwise should be in the space. It seems like poor planning. With that space and the buffer space between the curb and sidewalk and actual segregated path could have been built with room to spare.



Does anyone know why the hydro lines on Caroline were not buried as was planned (page 38) and approved? Not only did the lines not get buried, but the poles are in the middle of the sidewalk when there was space in the "buffer" between the curb and sidewalk or on the outside of the sidewalk.

"the City will enter an agreement with Waterloo North Hydro to install the electrical works to energize the buried system and remove the existing overhead system and poles. The City also intends to issue an RFP to retain a consultant to design the decorative street lighting system on Caroline from Allen to Erb Street."

"this report the work must be carried out in conjunction with the LRT construction."

   
   
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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After consulting the LED streetlight conversion map, the fixtures on these poles are due to be swapped for LEDs on the existing poles, which shouldn't be the case if they're due to be yanked out, so who knows what the plans are now.
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(06-14-2017, 10:25 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Those new shoulders remind of the faux-bike lanes on Queen St S. I was glad that they had finally faded enough not to be noticed and then they repainted them in the last week or so!

Hopefully they can remove the lines or at least "hatch" out the space so it is clear no vehicle, motorized or otherwise should be in the space. It seems like poor planning. With that space and the buffer space between the curb and sidewalk and actual segregated path could have been built with room to spare.
...

Those bike lanes on Queen are actually bike lanes (signed as such and with ajoining no parking zone--despite frequent parking). Of course, they're unfortunate lanes in that they're very short, although they're at least designed to be bike lanes, and lack the most terrible of features of the edge line noted earlier.

(06-14-2017, 10:25 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Does anyone know why the hydro lines on Caroline were not buried as was planned (page 38) and approved? Not only did the lines not get buried, but the poles are in the middle of the sidewalk when there was space in the "buffer" between the curb and sidewalk or on the outside of the sidewalk.

"the City will enter an agreement with Waterloo North Hydro to install the electrical works to energize the buried system and remove the existing overhead system and poles. The City also intends to issue an RFP to retain a consultant to design the decorative street lighting system on Caroline from Allen to Erb Street."

"this report the work must be carried out in conjunction with the LRT construction."

These poles drive me crazy! They're positioned terribly. So sad....they'll be there for a very long time...really unacceptable design for accessible sidewalks, or even just walking with someone.
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