ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[embe]

You're right, perhaps signs indicating a speed limit of 5-10km/hr should have been posted?  Hitting one of the orange painted protrusions (dead-on or glancing) at anything more than that could potentially do some damage.   Problem is, there are dozens in that area and not all drivers have the forethought to slow down and reaction is to swerve.  Even at reduced speed.  I'll see if I can get a pic tomorrow if I'm in the area again

[tomh009]

I was under the impression the choice of coloured crosswalk vs. zebra crossing vs. simple crosswalk lines was just one of how problematic is the crossing.  The zebra crossing is meant to make the crosswalk more visible, and the coloured crosswalk even moreso (plus there is a decorative aspect as well).  They are used as tools to improve problematic crossings, see for example King and University.

Of course, they often wear away quickly.

The coloured polymer coatings should last at least as long as conventional pavement paint.

[KevinL]

Had a walk around the downtown Kitchener loop; all the stations are looking excellent, and they all have the new benches. At Central Station at at Queen, I spotted a backless variant:



Also at the grade sep, I saw them putting in these precast panels:

[KevinL]

I mentioned earlier that the platform at City Hall is serving as the sidewalk. That's mostly true, though you can walk around the back side of the canopied area:



That doesn't get all the way down, though, and by the controls box it's only platform width.



A bit further down Duke, you can see the Hydro work near Queen street has all been neatly sealed up:

[KevinL]

I did want to address these lubricator assemblies by all the curves. I think they intend to put a larger surrounding box of some kind to protect the hoses and cables - take this one for instance. They've cleared back the grass around the pipes that they feed down, and it certainly looks ready for something to go around both concrete bases.

[Square]

That City Hall stop makes me always think, if any car in that church parking lot ever by mistake puts the car in drive instead of reverse, uh oh!

[Square]

I also wonder why the region has Duke from Queen to Ontario being closed till August 25? Looks open to me!

[JJTL]

The fancy crossings are in at the Kitchener Market stop, too!  I passed by them on my bike ride to work this morning.  Also, the ion and GRT logos were illuminated on both the Kitchener Market and Borden stations, yay!

I still don't see a logic or pattern to the painted parallel lines vs. zebra stripes on the pedestrian crossings.  Mike Boos on facebook said that if there is a hand/walk signal, it gets them, and if it's just a stop sign, it doesn't - but that pattern doesn't hold with other intersections now that I have started specifically watching for them.

Pretty neat how quickly they can add the fancy red zebra crossings to an intersection. Would be interesting to see a video of how they stamp and colour the pattern (assuming this is how it is done).

These fancy crossings have now just gone in at Benton and Charles, sometime over night. Drove through that intersection last night and they weren't there. Perhaps we can't see the pattern of which intersections are getting these and which aren't, because they are still in progress.

[KevinL]

Well, the crossings are still completely blank at spots like Charles and Queen, and Duke and Queen. Safe to say those are up soon.

[timc]

That City Hall stop makes me always think, if any car in that church parking lot ever by mistake puts the car in drive instead of reverse, uh oh!

There was a sort of chain barrier there before. I assume that something will be going in again to keep cars off of the sidewalk.

[KevinL]

My photo doesn't show it, but that area is still marked off by GrandLinq with barrier cones. I imagine a fence or other obstacle will be installed before they vacate.

[panamaniac]

That City Hall stop makes me always think, if any car in that church parking lot ever by mistake puts the car in drive instead of reverse, uh oh!

I'd be surprised if fencing isn't put in there at some point - hopefully to match the black aluminum fencing over on the retaining wall, but that may be hoping for too much.

[urbd]

Went for a ride along the entire route today, from Fairway to Conestoga, to see what progress has been made in the last 2 weeks.  Photos coming later.

[Canard]

Sorry, catching up on life after 2 weeks of vacation! Lost a couple thousand brain cells on a couple of rides. I'll try and sit down tonight and sort through my photos from Sunday! Lots of new goodies.

[tomh009]

Pretty neat how quickly they can add the fancy red zebra crossings to an intersection. Would be interesting to see a video of how they stamp and colour the pattern (assuming this is how it is done).

They heat the pavement to soften it up first, and then put a grid (in the form of the faux brick pattern) on top of the now-soft pavement.  They then use a plate compactor to press the grid into the asphalt and make the pattern.

A time-lag video would indeed be nice!