General Road and Highway Discussion

[KevinL]

Strasburg got some basic traffic calming installed very recently

[danbrotherston]

Strasburg got some basic traffic calming installed very recently

This kind of thing is a pretty good option for traffic calming retrofits (before they have the budget to do the full reconstruction they're doing on East Ave.). But it needs to be properly deployed. This needs to be done every 50 meters and at every bend in the road, plus there needs to be the budget to replace them every 1-2 weeks because drivers will destroy them. And of course, the city and council needs to be willing to tell drivers who complain about hitting them "You hit a stationary well marked object in the road and are trying to blame others for your bad driving, you should instead consider stopping driving if you are unable to avoid well marked stationary objects."

[dtkvictim]

Strasburg got some basic traffic calming installed very recently

New slalom course just dropped? https://old.reddit.com/r/kitchener/comme...ull_drive/

[bravado]

Strasburg got some basic traffic calming installed very recently

New slalom course just dropped? https://old.reddit.com/r/kitchener/comme...ull_drive/

Oh man check out all that shared responsibility for road safety going on

[ijmorlan]

In this vein, I’d like to see many more of the concrete barriers used on the Margaret Ave. bridge over the railway. Those are much more of a barrier than what is normally seen in a parking lot but don’t make the place feel like an expressway.

[SF22]

In this vein, I’d like to see many more of the concrete barriers used on the Margaret Ave. bridge over the railway. Those are much more of a barrier than what is normally seen in a parking lot but don’t make the place feel like an expressway.

Completely agree. They have some height, so they feel like a proper division of space with added safety. They certainly aren't attractive, but aren't ugly either - I've also heard a rumour that a volunteer group might be getting together this summer to paint the Margaret Ave barriers bright colours to make them more visible and be nicer to look at.

[ijmorlan]

In this vein, I’d like to see many more of the concrete barriers used on the Margaret Ave. bridge over the railway. Those are much more of a barrier than what is normally seen in a parking lot but don’t make the place feel like an expressway.

Completely agree. They have some height, so they feel like a proper division of space with added safety. They certainly aren't attractive, but aren't ugly either - I've also heard a rumour that a volunteer group might be getting together this summer to paint the Margaret Ave barriers bright colours to make them more visible and be nicer to look at.

Looking forward to that! Painted brightly those could actually have a lot of character.

[Bjays93]

So as apart of the King Street reconstruction between Sportsworld drive and the 401 they’ve added a huge centre median, which could’ve been a nice edition. Added some greenery, even trees and made the stretch into a nice looking boulevard. 

However apparently they’ve opted to merely slap down a bunch of concrete and call it a day. Absolutely baffling. Cold and hostile and the antithesis of good planning.

[neonjoe]

So as apart of the King Street reconstruction between Sportsworld drive and the 401 they’ve added a huge centre median, which could’ve been a nice edition. Added some greenery, even trees and made the stretch into a nice looking boulevard. 

However apparently they’ve opted to merely slap down a bunch of concrete and call it a day. Absolutely baffling. Cold and hostile and the antithesis of good planning.

The road was rebuilt in a manner that its prepared for centre running LRT. Utilities were replaced and the median was designed so that it could upgraded to allow for centre running LRT without tearing the entire road out again.

[SF22]

So as apart of the King Street reconstruction between Sportsworld drive and the 401 they’ve added a huge centre median, which could’ve been a nice edition. Added some greenery, even trees and made the stretch into a nice looking boulevard. 

However apparently they’ve opted to merely slap down a bunch of concrete and call it a day. Absolutely baffling. Cold and hostile and the antithesis of good planning.

The road was rebuilt in a manner that its prepared for centre running LRT. Utilities were replaced and the median was designed so that it could upgraded to allow for centre running LRT without tearing the entire road out again.

This is exactly it. It's actually good planning, looking forward to known projects that are coming down the pipeline, even if the interim stage feels a little wrong.

[danbrotherston]

The road was rebuilt in a manner that its prepared for centre running LRT. Utilities were replaced and the median was designed so that it could upgraded to allow for centre running LRT without tearing the entire road out again.

This is exactly it. It's actually good planning, looking forward to known projects that are coming down the pipeline, even if the interim stage feels a little wrong.

There is no reason to use concrete on the boulevard as "preparation"...the concrete there cannot be used to put tracks on, it will have to be torn up to place the tracks. It would have been cheaper, easier, and more environmentally friendly to put grass for the 10, 20, 30 years it'll take to build the LRT.

[neonjoe]

This is exactly it. It's actually good planning, looking forward to known projects that are coming down the pipeline, even if the interim stage feels a little wrong.

There is no reason to use concrete on the boulevard as "preparation"...the concrete there cannot be used to put tracks on, it will have to be torn up to place the tracks. It would have been cheaper, easier, and more environmentally friendly to put grass for the 10, 20, 30 years it'll take to build the LRT.

Native grasses or plants I would agreed with, but if it's sod it will look real bad real quick unless someone is frequently maintaining it. There's not many places in the region where they have done green median well and maintained it well. Most tree lawn areas maintained by the city or region also look real bad.

[bravado]

Didn’t you know? Only concrete (conveniently) has no ongoing pesky “maintenance” like other, prettier alternatives do when it comes to budget time.

[tomh009]

This is exactly it. It's actually good planning, looking forward to known projects that are coming down the pipeline, even if the interim stage feels a little wrong.

There is no reason to use concrete on the boulevard as "preparation"...the concrete there cannot be used to put tracks on, it will have to be torn up to place the tracks. It would have been cheaper, easier, and more environmentally friendly to put grass for the 10, 20, 30 years it'll take to build the LRT.

I don't think they are saying that the concrete wouldn't need to be torn up, rather that the entire road would not need to be torn up.

[Bjays93]

The road was rebuilt in a manner that its prepared for centre running LRT. Utilities were replaced and the median was designed so that it could upgraded to allow for centre running LRT without tearing the entire road out again.

This is exactly it. It's actually good planning, looking forward to known projects that are coming down the pipeline, even if the interim stage feels a little wrong.

I assumed the future LRT was at least part of the planning process which is GOOD planning I agree. Absolutely no reason you can't, at minimum, put grass in the middle in the meantime, especially because the LRT feels like a pipe dream at this point. Eglington has a GRASS LRT for what it's worth. So I'm glad the median was put in place, but that doesn't negate concrete being a horrible and hostile choice.