(09-27-2016, 08:22 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Dan, you're worrying about what will happen without planning.  But it's a fact that we do have planning: the region, the cities and the townships all have official plans.  All of these are fundamentally aligned in protecting farmland, containing urban sprawl, focusing development only in specific areas and promoting intensification (within the cities). 

It could certainly happen that thousands and thousands of single-family homes will be built in new subdivisions between Kitchener and Guelph.  But in order for that to happen, both the townships and the region will need to change direction, revise their development policies and update their official plans.  At this time no one -- not the cities, not the townships, not the region -- has indicated any desire or intent to do that, so I am not expecting it to happen.

Policies and plans can indeed be changed later.  But so can any legislation, or even the constitution.  At this point in time I have trust in our region, our cities and our townships that they indeed have the right direction, and they intend to stay with it.  Of course, if you cannot trust them to do that, then it's a whole different situation.

(09-27-2016, 06:27 AM)jamincan Wrote: What were the transit options between Cambridge and Kitchener prior to GRT? I wonder if the lack of transit links between Guelph and KW is an interjurisdictional issue more than anything else.

(09-27-2016, 09:24 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: There *are* already links between these regions, the new Highway 7 follows old highway 7.  The only difference is an increase in capacity.

(09-27-2016, 08:48 PM)DKsan Wrote: Wellington Township is completely within, smothered by, the Greenbelt. I don't we have to worry too much about sprawl along the highway.

We might have concerns about Guelph though.

(09-27-2016, 08:55 PM)SammyOES2 Wrote: "That's not true. The new highway will by-pass a dozen signalized intersections, so in addition to the higher highway speeds it will also have less intersection delay. I'm going to guess that the new route will be 5-10 minutes faster, which does matter."

Exactly.  Plus the development that is going in will slow down the road even more because there's at least 1 and I think 2 new roundabouts planned for the current highway. 


I think my biggest problem with what Dan's saying is that it just feels like he's against anything remotely related to outward growth / improved car transportation.  And that's just not practical/reasonable for where we are right now.  And I also find it hurts the overall transit strategy by turning a lot of people off.

(09-27-2016, 09:11 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: I said it before and I'll say it again:

We shouldn't force people off cars, but tempt them into public high quality efficient transportation.

I've lived in Germany and travel there several times a year. Germany has the best car infrastructure in the world: no speed limit autobahns. Yet, in all that time I've rented a car exactly once, since I always found public transit (tram, buses , LRT, trains) to be the preferable option.

(09-27-2016, 09:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I believe there are two things that are done to disincentivize driving.  First, driver's bear much more of the cost of driving than they do here.  Whether you call that disincentivizing or simply being fair, I'm not sure, but either way, it makes driving far less attractive because a huge part of the cost is no longer paid by "other people".

Second, cars are often banned from city centers etc.

But generally yes, attracting to transit is a better option.  Just as we've done with driving for 50 years.

(09-27-2016, 08:45 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Anyway, I think this conversation has run it's course.  Lets see meet back in 50 years what Highway 7 looks like between Guelph and KW.  I hope I'll be proven wrong.

(09-27-2016, 09:33 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: I have a travel budget that pays for the car, so cost wasn't an issue in my case. Also, while many streets city center streets are closed, you can easily get rather close to the center. Additionally there is plenty of well advertised parking near it, which includes live updates as to the number of free spaces available in each location.

(09-27-2016, 06:27 AM)jamincan Wrote: What were the transit options between Cambridge and Kitchener prior to GRT? I wonder if the lack of transit links between Guelph and KW is an interjurisdictional issue more than anything else.