Cycling in Waterloo Region

[SF22]

The road reconstruction happening on Margaret (Victoria to Queen) now has curbs up and you can really see how the road has been narrowed to make space for the new MUT. The left-turn lane is entirely gone, and they've added a little bit of boulevard space between the sidewalk and the road on the north side, where the sidewalk previously ran right beside the road. I think there's a good possibility we'll see some decent traffic calming as a result of this change!

[Chris]

In this instance I would have preferred if they installed standard bike lanes on the right and left to link up with the infrastructure on the other side of Victoria. I predict you are just going to get a ton of people biking on the wrong side of the road after crossing Victoria.

[SF22]

In this instance I would have preferred if they installed standard bike lanes on the right and left to link up with the infrastructure on the other side of Victoria. I predict you are just going to get a ton of people biking on the wrong side of the road after crossing Victoria.

Stage 3 of this project is revamping Margaret Ave from Victoria to Wellington. There will be separated bike lanes on the south side of the street continuing over the bridge and down to the Wellington lights (where, admittedly, you will have to cross twice to reach the existing northbound lane). It should also push the vehicle lanes over to line up better with the new lane orientation in the Stage 1 section. Stage 2 will have the MUT installed along Otto from Queen to Frederick.

On the positive side, anyone wanting to link up with the Spur Line will no longer have to cross over Margaret without the help of lights at Breithaupt. There are drawings for the project in the right-hand column under the Downtown Cycling Grid Engage Kitchener page https://www.engagewr.ca/downtown-cycling-grid

[Chris]

On the positive side, anyone wanting to link up with the Spur Line will no longer have to cross over Margaret without the help of lights at Breithaupt. There are drawings for the project in the right-hand column under the Downtown Cycling Grid Engage Kitchener page https://www.engagewr.ca/downtown-cycling-grid

That is a nice QoL improvement. I see so many awkward crossings at Breigthaupt and also at Wilhelm as people try to get to the crosswalk to the Spur at Weber.

[cherrypark]

New raised crossing at IHT-Glasgow is done. It's alright - probably will be better once they re-finish line painting to make it more obvious to drivers.

[danbrotherston]

On the positive side, anyone wanting to link up with the Spur Line will no longer have to cross over Margaret without the help of lights at Breithaupt. There are drawings for the project in the right-hand column under the Downtown Cycling Grid Engage Kitchener page https://www.engagewr.ca/downtown-cycling-grid

That is a nice QoL improvement. I see so many awkward crossings at Breigthaupt and also at Wilhelm as people try to get to the crosswalk to the Spur at Weber.

This is great, I think you can thank Merely Kate for this (as well as Darren) I know she pushed hard for it.

In other news, it looks like Ontario St. is getting sharrows past King. This is no surprise and absolutely what I called. It's probably worth it, but I hope folks will remember the businesses that killed the project, and tell others why.

Honestly...I don't miss any of this for one second. The fact that a grand total of three business owners basically have direct control over the public realm for thousands of people is...frustrating to say the least.

On the topic, anyone heard anything about the region's Duke St. contribution? Are they still arguing for the "share with buses" plan? (I'm considering them two separate bets).

[SF22]

That is a nice QoL improvement. I see so many awkward crossings at Breigthaupt and also at Wilhelm as people try to get to the crosswalk to the Spur at Weber.

This is great, I think you can thank Merely Kate for this (as well as Darren) I know she pushed hard for it.

In other news, it looks like Ontario St. is getting sharrows past King. This is no surprise and absolutely what I called. It's probably worth it, but I hope folks will remember the businesses that killed the project, and tell others why.

Honestly...I don't miss any of this for one second. The fact that a grand total of three business owners basically have direct control over the public realm for thousands of people is...frustrating to say the least.

On the topic, anyone heard anything about the region's Duke St. contribution? Are they still arguing for the "share with buses" plan? (I'm considering them two separate bets).

Last I saw, they put a pin in the Duke St bike lanes between Frederick/Water because they can't figure out a good solution to balance all modes of transportation. I think the city intends to build bike lanes on Duke between Cedar/Frederick and Water/Victoria within the next year though, in the areas where Duke isn't too tight between buildings and the LRT.

Also, merely Kate was one of the first local cycle activists I followed on Twitter, and she reliably posts interesting and frustrating things. I am so happy we have someone like her in our community, fighting the good fight.

[cherrypark]

That is a nice QoL improvement. I see so many awkward crossings at Breigthaupt and also at Wilhelm as people try to get to the crosswalk to the Spur at Weber.

This is great, I think you can thank Merely Kate for this (as well as Darren) I know she pushed hard for it.

In other news, it looks like Ontario St. is getting sharrows past King. This is no surprise and absolutely what I called. It's probably worth it, but I hope folks will remember the businesses that killed the project, and tell others why.

Honestly...I don't miss any of this for one second. The fact that a grand total of three business owners basically have direct control over the public realm for thousands of people is...frustrating to say the least.

On the topic, anyone heard anything about the region's Duke St. contribution? Are they still arguing for the "share with buses" plan? (I'm considering them two separate bets).

Last I saw was just that it would be done in 2024 re: Duke. Definitely have made a personal note of the businesses on Ontario for the same frustration...

[dtkvictim]

Which three businesses specifically? I'm aware of Legacy Greens, but I'm sort of surprised by anyone else on that block other than the dentist.

On the positive side, anyone wanting to link up with the Spur Line will no longer have to cross over Margaret without the help of lights at Breithaupt. There are drawings for the project in the right-hand column under the Downtown Cycling Grid Engage Kitchener page https://www.engagewr.ca/downtown-cycling-grid

Can you clarify what you mean? Do you mean taking a left off Margaret onto Breithaupt, coming from the direction of Victoria St?

[SF22]

Which three businesses specifically? I'm aware of Legacy Greens, but I'm sort of surprised by anyone else on that block other than the dentist.

On the positive side, anyone wanting to link up with the Spur Line will no longer have to cross over Margaret without the help of lights at Breithaupt. There are drawings for the project in the right-hand column under the Downtown Cycling Grid Engage Kitchener page https://www.engagewr.ca/downtown-cycling-grid

Can you clarify what you mean? Do you mean taking a left off Margaret onto Breithaupt, coming from the direction of Victoria St?

Yes, that's exactly right! Matt Rodrigues actually just posted photos tonight of this section - looks like they got the paint down and are just waiting for the concrete curbs to get installed to separate the bike lanes from the vehicle lanes. In the second photo, it shows the intersection of the Margaret bike lanes with Breithaupt: https://twitter.com/mattjrodrigues/statu...42176?s=20

[Chris]

Here is a pic of some of the new infrastructure.

[danbrotherston]

Which three businesses specifically? I'm aware of Legacy Greens, but I'm sort of surprised by anyone else on that block other than the dentist.

While only the owner of Legacy Greens came to the meeting and spoke, she claimed to be in communication with and representing the interests of the other businesses on the street including the coffee shop (which appears closed now, and I cannot even find their actual name) and adventures guild.

I don't recall hearing any input from Two Goblets either way.

I'm curious which of those would be a surprise? To me, the coffee shop makes sense, they probably have lots of people stopping for a short time, so prioritizing parking would make sense. Adventures Guild and the restaurant would be more surprising because the parking would be less important for them, but ultimately, opposition to bike lanes shouldn't surprise anyone at all.......

EXCEPT for opposition from Legacy Greens, because...well that business should ostensibly be friendly to environmental issues like cycling. I've said it before, it was hurtful personally for the proprietor there to oppose the bike lanes, and I certainly stopped going to that business because of it.

Can you clarify what you mean? Do you mean taking a left off Margaret onto Breithaupt, coming from the direction of Victoria St?

Yes, that's exactly right! Matt Rodrigues actually just posted photos tonight of this section - looks like they got the paint down and are just waiting for the concrete curbs to get installed to separate the bike lanes from the vehicle lanes. In the second photo, it shows the intersection of the Margaret bike lanes with Breithaupt: https://twitter.com/mattjrodrigues/statu...42176?s=20

That's awesome! Honestly, this is the kind of thing that conservatives should be (if they actually held conservative values) be gushing over. Low cost, high impact project which dramatically improves the cycling infra for the cost of a bunch of paint.

[Jefferson]

Here is a pic of some of the new infrastructure.

I bike along here very often so I'm happy to see this design improvement.

[Chris]

Here is a pic of some of the new infrastructure.

I bike along here very often so I'm happy to see this design improvement.

Agreed, much improved.

I'm curious to see if people still park in front of Mei King now that it's a traffic lane and not a bike lane.

[dtkvictim]

While only the owner of Legacy Greens came to the meeting and spoke, she claimed to be in communication with and representing the interests of the other businesses on the street including the coffee shop (which appears closed now, and I cannot even find their actual name) and adventures guild.

I don't recall hearing any input from Two Goblets either way.

I'm curious which of those would be a surprise? To me, the coffee shop makes sense, they probably have lots of people stopping for a short time, so prioritizing parking would make sense. Adventures Guild and the restaurant would be more surprising because the parking would be less important for them, but ultimately, opposition to bike lanes shouldn't surprise anyone at all.......

EXCEPT for opposition from Legacy Greens, because...well that business should ostensibly be friendly to environmental issues like cycling. I've said it before, it was hurtful personally for the proprietor there to oppose the bike lanes, and I certainly stopped going to that business because of it.

Two Goblets has closed, and the coffee shop moved/expanded into that space under the name Lucero Canteen, just FYI.

The coffee shop and Adventurers Guild are actually the ones that surprise me. They aren't, to greatly oversimplify, "boomer businesses". I would expect the opposition much more from the framing shop or the medical offices. To me, a coffee shop like Lucero/Show and Tell is a stereotypically urban business that depends on foot traffic, not people driving in to grab a coffee. There is also a lot of overlap between urban cycling enthusiasts and people who care to go to third wave coffee shops. I can't really put into words why Adventurers Guild surprises me but I guess as I reflect on it, board games are a pretty middle class suburban hobby. Every single person I know who goes there lives in the suburbs and drives in.

Legacy Greens doesn't surprise me though; people interested in healthy/organic/local products tend to have complete insane motivations just as often as having what I would consider genuine reasons (like some sort of environmentalism). I don't know anything about the owner, but I'm sure she at least understands who her customers are.