Cycling in Waterloo Region

[dtkvictim]

On the topic of bikes: I've never had one stolen because I have the golden strategy of never leaving it outside (locked or otherwise). It is a frustratingly limiting strategy though...

I live in a ground floor apartment now and keep my bikes inside. In some situations it is hard to bring bikes inside. I lived in Stanley Park in an upper level townhouse and stored my recumbent bike under the stairs outside, locked with a too flimsy cable lock. It got stolen after I had owned it for 14 years.

Yeah, my apartment is probably 20-30ft above ground level, and hauling bikes up and down the stairs makes me think twice about if I want to take my bike out. I don't really have a choice though; leaving my bike outside where I live would almost guarantee it being stolen within 24 hours, every day of the year.

[ac3r]

Waterloo sidewalk closure a precursor to active transportation upgrades: https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...-upgrades/

[danbrotherston]

Waterloo sidewalk closure a precursor to active transportation upgrades: https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...-upgrades/

Lol...I remember Weber....

It's very on brand for them to close all the sidewalks with no real consideration. I remember fighting this one at council...

I mean, the whole thing is stupid...a 1.5 m bike lane on a wide 4 lane truck route highway like Weber, what 8 year old wouldn't you trust to ride there.

But this really was the turning point for me, where I became very disillusioned with regional staff. They were initially proposing a 1.5 m bike lane on the bridge to replace the sidewalk (because reducing lanes is apparently unacceptable even when traffic volumes suggest there would be no congestion). The bike lane was immediately beside the concrete parapet. Now I felt this was highly dangerous, so I was strongly opposed to it. I did some research and found that the Ontario road standards prohibit such a configuration, if there is a vertical obstacle like a retaining wall or parapet it needs to have a 0.5m buffer (not that I think that's enough, but it clearly means the proposed regional design violates standards). I went to council, presented this, and council asked the transportation director point blank if this was true, and he said, no, there is no such requirement.

When I realized that I knew more about the standards for bike lanes than our regional transportation director I stopped trusting anything they say.  As a technically oriented person who generally believes in the concept of expertise, it really has shaken my entire belief system, but ultimately at least when it comes to transportation (and urban) planning, the professionals are far too often wrong with deadly consequences.

FWIW, I walked out of that committee room angry and determined to speak to throw the book in their face at the actual council meeting. Of course, the project mysteriously disappeared off the agenda for the council meeting next week, and re-appeared months later with an undersized MUT replacing the bike lane, so I guess someone actually checked the book, but I never received an apology or even an acknowledgement and ultimately...most of the project keeps it's garbage bike lane (albeit not directly abutting a concrete barrier) and I keep my anger and cynicism about our transportation planners.

[jamincan]

Genuinely, it boggles my mind that the regional transportation director stills holds that role.

[tomh009]

Looking at the bike lane construction on Joseph ... I do like the solid curb/median in the middle, separating the bike lanes from the car traffic. I am mystified by the super-wide median at the Water St intersection, though. And what are they going to do about the parking spaces between Ontario and Gaukel? At the moment they just look like an invitation for someone to drive down the bike lanes and park there.

[danbrotherston]

Looking at the bike lane construction on Joseph ... I do like the solid curb/median in the middle, separating the bike lanes from the car traffic. I am mystified by the super-wide median at the Water St intersection, though. And what are they going to do about the parking spaces between Ontario and Gaukel? At the moment they just look like an invitation for someone to drive down the bike lanes and park there.

The parking I believe will be turned into bike parking/bike share station. I'm not sure it'll be actually reconfigured in the initial construction or not, and I absolutely believe plenty of drivers will illegally drive and park there.

As for the super-wide median, I too asked about that during the 80% design phase, it has to do with turning radii, both Joseph and Water are collectors at that point, and I guess they needed to be able to get a garbage truck through there. Remember, Water will also be getting a segregated bike lane on one side, and it's a protected intersection, it's going to be a little tight.

You can see top of page 3 on this PDF: https://www.engagewr.ca/16695/widgets/65...ents/39880

It looks like things have been filled in a little bit, which is good, it creates a more sheltered location for peds to wait, but there is legitimate need to sweep out the turn a bit in order to make it a protected intersection.  I will say at least a few things have been adjusted a little bit from that diagram (most obviously, the direction of vehicular travel), so I still wait patiently to see what the final result will be.

[ac3r]

New trail connecting Waterloo to St. Jacobs Farmers' Market in the works: https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/new-trail-c...-1.5464229

[ac3r]

I feel like this should be a vehicular assault charge, not a hit and run: https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/news/police-ch...ridge.aspx

[Bytor]

I feel like this should be a vehicular assault charge, not a hit and run: https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/news/police-ch...ridge.aspx

First class assault, or even attempted homicide, given that it was deliberate.

(Tangent, there is manslaughter vs. homicide, so is the an 'attempted…' of each as well?)

[danbrotherston]

I feel like this should be a vehicular assault charge, not a hit and run: https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/news/police-ch...ridge.aspx

First class assault, or even attempted homicide, given that it was deliberate.

(Tangent, there is manslaughter vs. homicide, so is the an 'attempted…' of each as well?)

It's okay, they used a car as a weapon, that makes it legal.

[ijmorlan]

First class assault, or even attempted homicide, given that it was deliberate.

(Tangent, there is manslaughter vs. homicide, so is the an 'attempted…' of each as well?)

It's okay, they used a car as a weapon, that makes it legal.

Completely agreed! How is an apparently deliberate act just “careless driving”? Especially with failing to remain — that to me screams “guilty mind” which implies much worse than “careless driving”.

I suppose the answer is probably that it would be hard to prove it was deliberate. But after a dispute, the assumption should be that a collision is probably deliberate. If it was done with a knife the perpetrator couldn’t get away with “I got out my knife to cut my lunch and just happened to cut off his finger!”.

[dtkvictim]

I was cycling southbound on Philip St (between Albert and Columbia) today in the bicycle lanes, and man the quality is criminal. There are a bunch of sewer grates that drop down a couple inches from being level, and I'm positive I would've fallen flat on my face if I hit them. Honestly these photos from streetview don't even look as bad as they felt in person, and unfortunately the worst one is full of leaves so you can't even see it:





Thankfully traffic is light there so it was fine to swerve around. Northbound wasn't nearly as bad, aside from the random pieces of metal I hit. Oh, and the cones blocking part of it off.

I'm sure these are far from the worst in the region, but I usually go out of my way to avoid using bicycle gutters so I don't see them.

[clasher]

A lot of bike lanes are kinda just dumping grounds. At 545 Belmont (just south of Glasgow) there is a giant hump of asphalt coming out of the driveway and onto the road, enough to block the bike lane... it's like the dump truck operator just left it there and it hardened. It's taller than any speed hump and rough on top. It doesn't go into the vehicle lane but if it did there would likely be a cleanup in very little time. I don't know how long it's been there but it's brutal.

[bpoland]

A lot of bike lanes are kinda just dumping grounds. At 545 Belmont (just south of Glasgow) there is a giant hump of asphalt coming out of the driveway and onto the road, enough to block the bike lane... it's like the dump truck operator just left it there and it hardened. It's taller than any speed hump and rough on top. It doesn't go into the vehicle lane but if it did there would likely be a cleanup in very little time. I don't know how long it's been there but it's brutal.

There was a water main break a week or two ago, so hopefully that's temporary and they'll come back soon to patch it better.

[dtkvictim]

While I'm incredibly excited for these bike lanes, I'm quite frustrated by the construction at Joseph & Water.

All 4 corners of the intersection are now completely pedestrian inaccessible, and I don't believe there is any warning signage prior to entering the block.