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+-- Forum: Waterloo Region Works (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=14)
+--- Forum: Transportation and Infrastructure (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25)
+--- Thread: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph (/showthread.php?tid=225)
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - neonjoe - 04-29-2022
Wasn't the Frederick St overpass replacement part of the project supposed to start this year? Keeping up the trend of one bridge/overpass every 4 years for this project.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ijmorlan - 04-29-2022
(04-29-2022, 02:57 PM)jamincan Wrote:(04-29-2022, 01:37 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: But I’m fully expecting to be disappointed. They’ll probably build the abutments for the Grand River crossing or some such.
I dunno... sounds awfully ambitious for a mere election promise.
To be clear, I meant just the abutments.
I was trying to come up with something useless on its own. Maybe they’ll fence part of the right-of-way to Guelph.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SammyOES - 05-01-2022
(04-29-2022, 04:34 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Maybe they’ll fence part of the right-of-way to Guelph.
Funnily enough I believe this was work that was previously scheduled and “underway” under the Liberals. It never made a ton of sense to me (like so much of the project) but I think it ended up just being clearing the land in a few places along the route where they were going to stage material/start working.
So maybe the candidate for most likely work that is most useless is re-clearing land that was previously cleared and then doing nothing for 4 more years so that it just needs to be done again for the next election.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - jamincan - 05-01-2022
(04-29-2022, 04:34 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(04-29-2022, 02:57 PM)jamincan Wrote: I dunno... sounds awfully ambitious for a mere election promise.
To be clear, I meant just the abutments.
I was trying to come up with something useless on its own. Maybe they’ll fence part of the right-of-way to Guelph.
Oh, I understood what you meant. I'm just far more cynical about the government's motivation to accomplish anything (and I mean anything) on this promise.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ijmorlan - 05-01-2022
(05-01-2022, 09:23 AM)SammyOES Wrote:(04-29-2022, 04:34 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Maybe they’ll fence part of the right-of-way to Guelph.
Funnily enough I believe this was work that was previously scheduled and “underway” under the Liberals. It never made a ton of sense to me (like so much of the project) but I think it ended up just being clearing the land in a few places along the route where they were going to stage material/start working.
So maybe the candidate for most likely work that is most useless is re-clearing land that was previously cleared and then doing nothing for 4 more years so that it just needs to be done again for the next election.
That’s brilliant, actually. They can “make progress” forever without ever having to put much money in.
Although to be fair they’re saving massively on maintenance expenses which would start after completion, so maybe they’re not as dumb as it seems.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ac3r - 05-12-2022
Get Doug Ford it done for drivers is once again promising to get Highway 7 rebuilt after failing to achieve it over and over and over again: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/highway-7-ontario-election-promise-doug-ford-1.6450716
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - panamaniac - 05-12-2022
Absent a completion date, ir’s just more blah, blah, blah.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - jeffster - 03-26-2023
(05-12-2022, 04:04 PM)ac3r Wrote: Get Doug Ford it done for drivers is once again promising to get Highway 7 rebuilt after failing to achieve it over and over and over again: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/highway-7-ontario-election-promise-doug-ford-1.6450716
Apparently this highway was mentioned in the budget (along with the hospital talk).
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SammyOES - 03-27-2023
(03-26-2023, 11:57 PM)jeffster Wrote:(05-12-2022, 04:04 PM)ac3r Wrote: Get Doug Ford it done for drivers is once again promising to get Highway 7 rebuilt after failing to achieve it over and over and over again: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/highway-7-ontario-election-promise-doug-ford-1.6450716
Apparently this highway was mentioned in the budget (along with the hospital talk).
Lol, I took a look. This is what I found:
“Building the New Highway 7
The next phase of construction for the new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph will provide relief to the gridlocked Highway 401 and connect the fast‐growing urban centres of Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. Design of the Frederick Street bridge replacement is well underway with utility work targeted to begin in 2023.”
That’s it. Detailed plans/maps exist for the highways they’re actually building. And the milestones aren’t “utility work targeted to begin”.
Local politicians are such wimpy lapdogs. Either come out and say that the highway isn’t needed and the project should be killed. Or come out and say that you’re sick of the province jerking you around announcing multi-year milestones that are a minor point in any serious highway development.
This “I’m happy to see the province is taking the project seriously” nonsense has to stop.
Edit: And because I know where this will go, obviously the new highway will provide exactly zero “relief” to the 401.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - ijmorlan - 03-27-2023
I just want to see the new crossings of the railway get built. Those will actually be useful. I suppose replacement of the Frederick St. bridge is probably needed anyway, but it shouldn’t happen until they’re prepared to provide proper active transportation facilities on the new bridge.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SF22 - 03-27-2023
I just want to get the Frederick St bridge replaced because it's been absolutely hacked together for years, and it's really frustrating for pedestrians and cyclists. They put jersey walls along the sides of the bridge, which shrunk the sidewalk space, so they poured extra concrete to expand the sidewalks and narrowed the bike lane space by about a third as a result. And it's been sitting that way since 2014/15-ish. Nearly 10 years of 'temporary' jersey walls and less space for cyclists.
Also, I really want the grade-separated crossings to get installed between Victoria and Wellington, particularly if there is pedestrian/cyclist accommodations included. I know there's the little bridge next to TA Appliances, but it would be nice to have something more accessible (ie: without stairs). It's one more step in the direction of connecting the Walter Bean Trail into the cycle network (we would only then need safe passageway on Riverbend and separated bike lanes on Wellington and bike lanes on either Bruce and/or Edna to connect the Frederick lanes to Victoria, so really practically nothing at all!)
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - danbrotherston - 03-27-2023
(03-27-2023, 09:29 AM)SF22 Wrote: I just want to get the Frederick St bridge replaced because it's been absolutely hacked together for years, and it's really frustrating for pedestrians and cyclists. They put jersey walls along the sides of the bridge, which shrunk the sidewalk space, so they poured extra concrete to expand the sidewalks and narrowed the bike lane space by about a third as a result. And it's been sitting that way since 2014/15-ish. Nearly 10 years of 'temporary' jersey walls and less space for cyclists.
Also, I really want the grade-separated crossings to get installed between Victoria and Wellington, particularly if there is pedestrian/cyclist accommodations included. I know there's the little bridge next to TA Appliances, but it would be nice to have something more accessible (ie: without stairs). It's one more step in the direction of connecting the Walter Bean Trail into the cycle network (we would only then need safe passageway on Riverbend and separated bike lanes on Wellington and bike lanes on either Bruce and/or Edna to connect the Frederick lanes to Victoria, so really practically nothing at all!)
And to think if they'd had an ounce of sense they could have put the jersey barriers protecting the bike lanes and it would have had the same effect of protecting the bridge from cars and also creating one of the safest bridges for cyclists and peds in the region.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - SammyOES - 03-28-2023
From: https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/the-new-highway-7-once-again-promised-in-2023-provincial-budget-1.6331066
Quote:The province has always been quite hesitant. They have been quite, I guess, guarded, in providing timelines on this particular project - I guess probably because the delays in the past,” said Art Sinclair the chamber’s vice-president. “So there haven’t been any firm commitments but that key commitment is there that this is a priority project and we expect the province to follow through on their commitment.”
This is the kind of nonsense I'm talking about. Saying that "utility work" is suppose to "start" within the next 9 months is clear evidence that it's not a priority. Saying "construction is planned to begin in 2024" (with both "planned" and "begin" doing a LOT of work in that phrase) is clear evidence that it's not a priority.
I don't feel strongly for or against the new highway (nor do I intend to get into that here), but something needs to be done as development keeps ramping up along the existing highway 7. And the design for the existing highway 7 should be radically different if there is or is not an expressway that is running roughly parallel to it.
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - LesPio - 03-28-2023
(03-27-2023, 12:55 AM)SammyOES Wrote:The province has been painfully slow on this...I'm curious to know how much tax revenue (payroll tax, gas tax, sales tax, etc) the province siphons from our area and the tax dollar investment it returns to our area over the course of a year, 5 years, 10 years.....does the money stay in this area?(03-26-2023, 11:57 PM)jeffster Wrote: Apparently this highway was mentioned in the budget (along with the hospital talk).
Lol, I took a look. This is what I found:
“Building the New Highway 7
The next phase of construction for the new Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph will provide relief to the gridlocked Highway 401 and connect the fast‐growing urban centres of Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. Design of the Frederick Street bridge replacement is well underway with utility work targeted to begin in 2023.”
That’s it. Detailed plans/maps exist for the highways they’re actually building. And the milestones aren’t “utility work targeted to begin”.
Local politicians are such wimpy lapdogs. Either come out and say that the highway isn’t needed and the project should be killed. Or come out and say that you’re sick of the province jerking you around announcing multi-year milestones that are a minor point in any serious highway development.
This “I’m happy to see the province is taking the project seriously” nonsense has to stop.
Edit: And because I know where this will go, obviously the new highway will provide exactly zero “relief” to the 401.
Of course this has been dragging on...I'm curious to know how much tax revenue (payroll tax, gas tax, sales tax, etc) the province siphons from our area and returns the money to our area over the course of a year, 5 years, 10 years
RE: Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph - nms - 03-28-2023
(03-28-2023, 12:51 PM)LesPio Wrote: Of course this has been dragging on...I'm curious to know how much tax revenue (payroll tax, gas tax, sales tax, etc) the province siphons from our area and returns the money to our area over the course of a year, 5 years, 10 years[/font][/size]
I'm not an accountant, but the FAO reported in 2017-2018 that Ontario received $10,415 per capita in revenue (taxation, resource royalties, transfers from the federal government and other sources including profits from government business enterprises and user fees) while spending $9,829 per capita. Actual tax revenue per person was $7,936. This particular FAO report does not break down spending by community, but it spending were equal across the board, that could represent about $4 Billion/year for Waterloo Region. That would include operating funding (eg hospitals, etc) and capital funding. You would probably need a whole team of accountants to track the actual money given the propensity to announce the same funding multiple times.
If I had to guess, it would be that Waterloo Region taxpayers provide more funding to the province than it receives as there are other areas of the province that require some of the same services (eg hospitals, OPP, highways etc) but may not have the same tax base.