ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[GtwoK]

Track still hasn't advanced onto Allen, and the curve hasn't been embedded yet, but the curbs and sidewalk sure do look nice!



Back downtown, the "black" cement we saw being poured has cured in front of the bus terminal, and looks spiffy! Construction almost done here!



It may be hard to tell from this photo, but marks for curbs (both road and rapidway) are in at Queen / Charles, and the ground has been completely filled in and tamped! There is also a new type of manhole cover in the sidewalk with access to the Ion communication ducts. This might even be complete within a week, minus tracks!




It seems the black concrete finishing is being used all along the rapidway. Here it is down at Charles / Pandora. Really helps clean some of these places up a bit.



I'm wondering what they'll do with the sidewalk here at Charles / Benton. Hoping this tree doesn't need to come down, but it looks like it might.

[chutten]

One thing baffles me: how will the connection from Moore to King be made? The grade on Moore will need to be lowered significantly, as with a bit of Breithaupt I would assume, but how will it be handled in front of the Google building, I wonder? Rails running a long the sidewalk so you don't fall down to the road?

I imagine along King the sidewalk will do the same thing as it does for the Weber St underpass. Breithaupt and Moore presently have a bit of a climb to meet where King used to be, so hopefully bringing them down will just level things out nicely. I imagine the sidewalks will connect much how the ones at Wellington and Weber do, though the distances and depths aren't the same so I have no idea :S

[Viewfromthe42]

Tree could be pruned to overhang the sidewalk.

To get from Charles and Victoria to Duke and Victoria, you actually need to cross King at Francis, then walk through the backside parking lot of 404 King; there is no Northeast side of King sidewalk, it is closed all along the King and Victoria frontages of Kaufman.

[MidTowner]

I imagine along King the sidewalk will do the same thing as it does for the Weber St underpass. Breithaupt and Moore presently have a bit of a climb to meet where King used to be, so hopefully bringing them down will just level things out nicely. I imagine the sidewalks will connect much how the ones at Wellington and Weber do, though the distances and depths aren't the same so I have no idea :S

It was only a bit of a climb up Moore to King. On the Weber side, Breithaupt had to be made into a cul-de-sac. That would be a truly bizarre outcome to have on the other side, too, but I also can’t really see how the connection would work- that excavation is deep.

[Markster]

Tree could be pruned to overhang the sidewalk.

The issue is that they may be needing to cut away some of the roots to get the sidewalk in. And construction around this town rarely prioritizes saving trees. Most of the time in these situations, they just take out the tree entirely rather than give it a fighting chance.

[KevinL]

That tree looks to be safe. They have to cut back the garden bed, and will likely lose the shrub on the far side, though.

[panamaniac]

Tree could be pruned to overhang the sidewalk.

The issue is that they may be needing to cut away some of the roots to get the sidewalk in. And construction around this town rarely prioritizes saving trees. Most of the time in these situations, they just take out the tree entirely rather than give it a fighting chance.

That tree looks to be safe. They have to cut back the garden bed, and will likely lose the shrub on the far side, though.

I wonder if they don't also need to move some of the rocks forming the fountain as well?  That little plaza has never been well used.

[GtwoK]

Duke from Water to Victoria and Francis from Duke to the Kaufman Lofts entrance is ready to be paved! Would be very surprised if this didn't happen today (especially with the rapid way curbs installed), should definitely alleviate some traffic. Last night when I was walking by, there was a steam roller doing a coarse tamping, and a rammer doing more of a fine tamping behind him.

No photos, but just drove by and whaddya know, it was completely paved!

[rangersfan]

Thanks again everyone for all the great reports and photo’s.

[Canard]

   
Trackwork in front of Cameron Heights school in Kitchener, on Charles.

   
The embedded track curve from Caroline onto Allen is just about ready for concrete.

   

   
Embedded track on Caroline, heading toward the Allen Curve.

   
A bit of a misleading photo of Erb/Caroline. If you were to only look at this, you might think nothing is going on here. In fact, several holes have been dug, work performed, and then covered back up again. Just to my left in this shot, at least two more large pits are present, with underground utility relocation being performed. All this while maintaining a live rail line cutting straight through the centre of it. No small feat, indeed.

[Canard]

   
The Hydro Corridor behind Fairway, from Courtland.

   
Interesting re-use of signage! The sharpie is hilarious.

   
Looking along Courtland from near Manitou.

   
...and the other way, from near Block Line.

   
Future Block Line station area.

[Canard]

   
The large retaining wall with engineered dirt.  I'm surprised at how large this is.  Why would this method be chosen for this area, when on the North side of Block Line, it's just an angled buildup of earth?

   
There's those mats that keep the dirt in place.

   
Curb graveyard.

[Canard]

   
Lots of progress in the yard (finally!) at the OMSF.

   
...most important of which, is yard track!

   
Catenary is being strung between the catpoles which were erected a few weeks ago.

   
You can figure out the routing of the track here over to the main OMSF hall pretty easily. Several switch tracks will branch off to the yard tracks.

   
The tie dragon has been busy in here!

I'm very relieved to see ballasted track here with concrete ties and rails. The RFP/Project Agreement said that it was "OK" to use wooden ties and jointed track here if they wanted, so to see them maintaining a high-quality, consistent look for all the trackage is huge. I am so impressed with the quality of this project!

[plam]

I am so impressed with the quality of this project!

I understand that running up against deadlines is usually the worst thing for quality. So the delay with the trains may help relieve some of that pressure.

[jgsz]

Thanks for the great pics, Canard et al.

Is this the most documented LRT construction ever?  280 pages and counting.