07-24-2016, 10:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-24-2016, 11:01 AM by danbrotherston.)
(07-24-2016, 09:46 AM)Canard Wrote: Whoah whoa! Sorry - I certainly didn't mean to sound like I was criticizing your idea. I guess I was, though - I was just saying that I don't think it's a good idea (and the rail safety folks I'm sure would agree) to have a pedestrian path between two lanes of train tracks, with trains going by at 80 km/h. At the very least, you'll need 1.5 m fences on both sides (so you'll be walking in a "tunnel" of fences - imagine the safety concerns there at night? Would you feel safe?) and if it's running from either side of the bridge that's like a half a kilometre span with no breaks. And you can't just put a pedestrian crosswalk anywhere on Northfield - it'll have to run as a narrow fenced path from the railway crossing at the Northfield station (a pedestrian crosswalk is going here) probably over to Colby Drive.
As for it being "more safe" than walking on a sidewalk on an overpass on a posted 60 km/h road... I don't buy that either. I've never felt unsafe walking on the wide sidewalks on Frederick where it crosses the Conestoga Parkway and that's about the same thing.
...unless I'm totally misunderstanding your proposal?
Frederick doesn't have ramps, and is only two lanes, and traffic moves slower, and there's fewer trucks. I don't think its fair to compare them.
I think you're right about the social safety issue, but it is mostly because of the fencing you think is required, but I don't think it would be, it's only required on the other sections through the park because freight, regulations, bla bla bla, it's "different" in some special way.
Without the fence, it's probably a reasonable suggestion, but it may still *feel* more scary than walking on a traditional sidewalk, for no other reason than that it is unusual. You are equally trapped in the middle of a highway interchange overpass whether you are on the edge or in the middle. You just might not feel equally trapped.