ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[GtwoK]

Duke / Water was re-curbed today. Could be repaved on Tuesday, if not tomorrow.

[Canard]

Wow, already! Did they have curbs in place for the rapidway as well?

[Markster]

Apparently Queen/Charles isn't going to be opening for another couple weeks... just a rumour I heard but wondering if anyone heard otherwise?

It's certainly not looking closer to being finished. They love to fill holes, roll the surface flat, then dig a new hole somewhere else...

Yeah, I was there the other day. Nothing to see. Phenomenally slow going.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Views of <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> from Charles/Benton<br>Concrete down Charles<br>Queen going slow<br>When will Charles open up at Gaukel? <a href="https://t.co/6O5BQnQqJU">pic.twitter.com/6O5BQnQqJU</a></p>&mdash; Mark Jackson-Brown (@Markster3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000/status/733086457632448512">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>

[timc]

After seeing the pictures with the fence posts i went back to check the maps and noticed there wasn't a spot that connects all those apartments to Fairway.  Has that changed? i thought there were spots you could cut across in previous maps.  Also, I don't see how it would be a safety risk if there's crossings in UW and Waterloo Park, and not having a place to cut across will encourage people in the area to drive to plazas on fairway rather than just walk.

I think it's just as likely that if there aren't places to cross, that people will make their own crossings.

[Lens]

After seeing the pictures with the fence posts i went back to check the maps and noticed there wasn't a spot that connects all those apartments to Fairway.  Has that changed? i thought there were spots you could cut across in previous maps.  Also, I don't see how it would be a safety risk if there's crossings in UW and Waterloo Park, and not having a place to cut across will encourage people in the area to drive to plazas on fairway rather than just walk.

I think it's just as likely that if there aren't places to cross, that people will make their own crossings.

Knowing the neighbourhood well, they absolutely will. It would be wise to make actual crossings at a few different points once they redo the trail along the line.

[Markster]

...So they're going to scale the stupid fence?

No, they'll make holes in the stupid fence.

[KevinL]

After seeing the pictures with the fence posts i went back to check the maps and noticed there wasn't a spot that connects all those apartments to Fairway.  Has that changed? i thought there were spots you could cut across in previous maps.  Also, I don't see how it would be a safety risk if there's crossings in UW and Waterloo Park, and not having a place to cut across will encourage people in the area to drive to plazas on fairway rather than just walk.

I think it's just as likely that if there aren't places to cross, that people will make their own crossings.

Which could quickly get dangerous.   I hope they've considered something here to account for pedestrian desire...

[ert86]

I think it's just as likely that if there aren't places to cross, that people will make their own crossings.

Knowing the neighbourhood well, they absolutely will. It would be wise to make actual crossings at a few different points once they redo the trail along the line.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I utilized a hole in a fence to cut my walk to/from Food Basics in half when the construction fences weren't there.

Also, after my last post I noticed a yellow cone directly across the opening in the wooden fence, crossing my fingers.

[Pheidippides]

Spotted new LRV signals at Charles and Cedar this morning on the way to the market. Two one each side of the intersection:
   
   
   
   

I was also surprised to see how much progress and curb had been made on Duke and Francis when I was past there on Thursday.

[KevinL]

That's cool, right at eye level for the LRV operators.

[panamaniac]

Is it just the camera, or is the pole in that last photo really that bent?

[Markster]

I took a video, taking a look at the rail crossing standards at pedestrian crossings.

Pretty darn huge, compared to pedestrian scale.

[Canard]

   
Tram Signals along Charles!

   
Looking North on Charles.

   
Platform for station at Charles/Borden.

   
Curbs for the rapidway are already in along Charles between Ottawa and Borden!

   
Charles & Ottawa - lots to do here, still.

[Canard]

   
Looking along Ottawa, from Charles.

   
Another view along Ottawa from Charles.

   
A new kind of catpole has appeared - this is what a "Round" pole looks like with a counterweight. The counterweight for the tensioner system is hidden within the column of the pole itself! Fancy.

   
I'm not sure when they snuck it in, but they've now spliced in a half-crossover between the tracks, just North of Albert McCormic Arena! Note that the direction of the crossover is "safe" - that is to say, an incorrectly set switch will not cause a train in normal operation to veer onto the wrong track... to use the crossover, a train would have to pass by it, then reverse through the crossover, then continue along its way.

   
And finally, a whole line of tram signals along King in front of Grand River Hospital. Seeing these appear just makes the whole thing seem more "real" to me.

[GtwoK]

Wow, already!  Did they have curbs in place for the rapidway as well?

Nope, unfortunately. Tracks aren't supposed to be going in during this closure. Curbs were done all the way from Water to Francis though, which was neat! There's still a hole in the one corner of Water, so no curbs there. I'd suspect this will open this week, though.




 We've known this for a while, but curbs are in from Victoria to Francis. Sidewalks mostly in, too! Can't wait to see track embedded here.