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General Road and Highway Discussion
Anecdotal evidence sidewalk needed on that side. I was fortunate to see two people run/walking their dog in the bike lane heading towards Breslau at 6 pm last night. They were stepping pretty close to travel lane as they dodged the orange construction cones. Wearing black in a poorly lit stretch seemed ill-considered.
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Oh god, here we go.
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With the narrowing of King St Uptown I hope the taxis will be a little respectful and not just stop with their four ways on since it's now only 2 lanes instead of four. Or if they do someone does something about it
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When I walked by today Erb street was open to cars again with at least a single lane between Albert & Regina
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If people are wondering, they still have the reverse lane on Bridgeport, at least as of last night.
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Highway 401 (Hespeler Road to Townline Road) Widening Update

Current Work
Appendix A includes the limits of the current project. MTO has established a website for project information at http://www.highway401-hespeler-townline.ca, and has published a Notice of Study Update (Appendix B). The project has been divided into two phases:
• Phase 1 (2018) will involve replacement of the Franklin Boulevard bridge, rehabilitation of retaining walls at the Townline Road bridge, and expansion of the commuter parking lot at the Townline Road interchange.
• Phase 2 (2019–2021) will involve the widening of Highway 401, reconstruction of the Highway 401 interchanges at Franklin Boulevard and Hespeler Road, and replacement of the Hespeler Road bridge. Work on retaining walls, drainage improvements, illumination, overhead signs and traffic signals, as needed, will be completed during this phase.

Replacing the Franklin Boulevard bridge in 2018 will require full closure of the bridge and ramps to/from Highway 401. To better accommodate the increased traffic expected on Hespeler Road and Townline Road, Regional staff are collaborating with the City of Cambridge to review traffic operations and adjust traffic signal timings. Closure of the
bridge will also affect Grand River Transit service in the area. The area under review is provided in Appendix C.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Ottawa Street South/Bleams Road Improvements, Fischer-Hallman Road to Knechtel Court, City of Kitchener and Township of Wilmot
Complete replacement of the deteriorated pavement structure;
• The addition of curb and gutter to provide an urban style road cross-section;
• Upsizing of the existing Zone 5, 450mm diameter watermain to a 600mm diameter watermain for a length of 3.0km;
• The addition of a new 150mm diameter local watermain to provide local services that were previously connected directly to the Zone 5, 450mm diameter trunk watermain for a length of 300m;
• Installation of a new, 250mm diameter sanitary forcemain from the proposed new Activa subdivision to the outlet at David Bergey Drive for a length of 1.2km;
• Installation of a new 3.0m multi-use trail on both sides of Ottawa Street from International Place to Trussler Road for a length of 2.2km;
• Installation of a new 1.5m wide sidewalk on both sides of Bleams Road from Trussler Road to Knechtel Court for a length of 300m;
• Installation of a new storm sewer system in various locations along the corridor and replacement of aging storm sewer system throughout the corridor as required;
• Installation of detectable warning plates to facilitate barrier-free access at all sidewalk ramp and road crossing locations;
• Improvements/enhancements to existing Grand River Transit (GRT) bus stops, as well as proposed new stops west of David Bergey Drive for a future iXpress route;
• The construction of left turn lanes for two existing/proposed residential developments between Prosperity Drive and Trussler Road. These lanes are requirements of the subdivision agreements for each and have been funded by the developers;
• Installation of a new westbound right turn lane from Ottawa Street onto Trussler Road in order to alleviate high PM peak volumes and increase the Level of Service of the intersection; and
• Installation of new street lighting west of David Bergey Drive in accordance with the Regional Illumination Policy.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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I wasn't sure where to put this since it crosses, road, walking, cycling. Maybe we need a separate Vision Zero thread?

Region of Waterloo Road Safety Program
"Region of Waterloo Transportation staff undertook a review of various recently adopted Vision Zero plans from other municipalities in North America with a view to see how the Region’s current Road Safety Program (RSP) compares in terms of philosophy, strategic actions and results. Staff’s review concluded that the Region’s Road Safety Program is comprehensive and “leading edge” when compared to other strategies."

...

"Based on a review of a number of Vision Zero road safety plans in Canada and the United states in comparison to the Region’s Road Safety Program, it can be concluded that the Region’s RSP is based on the same philosophy to reduce serious injuries and deaths and the same breadth of perspective in that the Region’s RSP incorporates the “3E’s”: Engineering, Enforcement and Education.

From a safety perspective, the Region’s road network is performing better than many other networks in Canada and better than the road network in Sweden. While the good safety performance of the Region’s roads is important to note, there is always room for improvement. Transportation staff continue to strive to find new ways to identify locations and trends where there’s potential for safety improvements and to identify and implement proven countermeasures to significantly reduce serious injuries and deaths on the Region’s road network.

...

Staff is therefore recommending that Regional Council re-affirms its philosophy of reducing serious injuries and deaths on Region roads through the Region’s Road Safety Program as described in this report TES-TRP-17-21."


"3.2 Pedestrian Countermeasures Program Regional 
Transportation staff review the top 10 pedestrian collision locations identified through the network screening process. As pedestrian collisions are generally rare events, pedestrian collision patterns are much more difficult to discern. Notwithstanding this, many appropriate countermeasures can help to enhance pedestrian safety including but not limited to illumination enhancements, offset crosswalks, high-visibility crosswalks and leading pedestrian intervals to name a few."

"3.3 Cyclist Countermeasures Program
Regional Transportation staff review the top 10 cyclist collision locations identified through the network screening process. Similar to pedestrian collisions, collisions involving cyclists are generally rare events. Therefore cyclist collision patterns are much more difficult to discern. Notwithstanding this, many appropriate countermeasures can help to enhance cyclist safety including but not limited to illumination enhancements, offset crosswalks, right-turn on red prohibitions, and cycling lanes to name a few."
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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In case others were wondering (i was), the approx 1 ft of concrete on the outside of curbing (more obvious when its adjacent to boulevard) is refered to as the "kill strip"!

Not for that reason! Because the salt kills the grass...

But, really, how many springs of sod replacement would it take to pay for the concrete pour?
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(11-10-2017, 10:51 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: "3.2 Pedestrian Countermeasures Program Regional 
Transportation staff review the top 10 pedestrian collision locations identified through the network screening process. As pedestrian collisions are generally rare events, pedestrian collision patterns are much more difficult to discern. Notwithstanding this, many appropriate countermeasures can help to enhance pedestrian safety including but not limited to illumination enhancements, offset crosswalks, high-visibility crosswalks and leading pedestrian intervals to name a few."

Do we have any signals with leading pedestrian intervals in the region? I can't remember ever seeing one.
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I recently saw the "leading pedestrian interval" when traveling but I don't remember where (Vancouver maybe?). They seemed like a really good idea for a lot of intersections.
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According to tomorrow's P&W agenda (page 126 of this pdf): "Currently, leading pedestrian intervals are operating at 7 locations as a pilot to monitor their effectiveness. Staff is planning to expand the pilot to include a leading pedestrian interval at the top pedestrian collision locations, where appropriate."

According to Table 3.2 they are considering installing them in 2017/2018 at the following intersections:
- King & University
- King & Bishop
- Westmount & Victoria
- Ainslie & Main
- Kingsway & Wilson
- King & Queen
- Block Line & Strasburg
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So where are the 7 irrelevant pilot places, if they're only now considering using leading pedestrian intervals at the locations where it most matters?
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What are "leading pedestrian intervals"?
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(11-13-2017, 12:32 PM)panamaniac Wrote: What are "leading pedestrian intervals"?

Basically, the pedestrian signal turns to "walk" about 2 seconds before vehicular traffic gets a green light. It ensures you don't have drivers attempting to gun it past pedestrians.
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