ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[MidTowner]

King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.

Especially with this area, I hope that the City of Kitchener eventually takes some action to address rat running. Supposedly, Mount Hope is a "Traffic-Calmed Neighbourhood," but besides the few speed humps on Moore (designed to protect boneheaded motorists who might otherwise take the curve too fast for their own good, and not to protect other users), it's hard to tell. With the King closures, Shanley has become even worse in terms of fast-moving traffic, and residents of Louisa attest that their street is suffering, too. If Wellington to Duke is the logical alternative if you need to get east of King when going south (and it is), a lot of motorists will continue to be tempted to take Shanley or Louisa instead.

Agnes deserves some calming, too, if it's going to continue to be the diversion for traffic needing to get northbound on King from eastbound Victoria. It's entirely residential and adjacent to an elementary school. I'm not saying it's not part of the road network, but it's not suited to the type of driving a lot of people do when cutting through a neighbourhood on the way to somewhere else.

[Markster]

Victoria EB to King NB: everything north of Agnes (King Edward School) would be roughly the same speed or faster via Park. Slight delays for intermediate locations by taking Park & Agnes or Duke to Wellington.

Victoria WB to King SB: everything south of Water is faster via Water. Charles or Duke and Francis are comparably fast alternates for business between Victoria and Water.

King NB to Victoria WB: Water or Francis and Joseph or Charles. Similar distance, but with two left turns, strictly slower. Most people will want to stick to Charles over King heading NB anyway, so I think the people inconvenienced in this case would be minimal.

King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.

That's a pretty good analysis of the situation.
Several of the turns aren't really necessary, as there are plenty of alternatives, several of which are simply better in the first place.

[urbd]

Is it just me or is anyone else not pleased with the amount of new grass strips being added to the streetscape? I was expecting an extra wide sidewalk (or any hardscape really, i thought they would use the black concrete 'brick' thing they've used in other parts) close to King/Victoria, along Victoria... but that whole stretch is now lined with sod - odd choice for what is expected to be the densest urban hub in the Region.

Don't get me wrong, I like how grass looks, and it's nice to have some permeable surfaces in an otherwise barren Downtown, however, I associate grass boulevards with a suburban urban morphology, it just doesn't fit here. Same with Uptown from Allen to William, it just makes no sense to me. Opinions? I really think there was no thought put into the streetscape for the project... we are getting kilometres of new sidewalks and just seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity to create really great streetscapes.

[Chris]

Victoria EB to King NB: everything north of Agnes (King Edward School) would be roughly the same speed or faster via Park. Slight delays for intermediate locations by taking Park & Agnes or Duke to Wellington.

Victoria WB to King SB: everything south of Water is faster via Water. Charles or Duke and Francis are comparably fast alternates for business between Victoria and Water.

King NB to Victoria WB: Water or Francis and Joseph or Charles. Similar distance, but with two left turns, strictly slower. Most people will want to stick to Charles over King heading NB anyway, so I think the people inconvenienced in this case would be minimal.

King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.

This took me a minute to figure out, it's like a brain teaser. Victoria North and South meet King West here so I had to do some mental gymnastics to picture each scenario.

[Canard]

Is it just me or is anyone else not pleased with the amount of new grass strips being added to the streetscape? I was expecting an extra wide sidewalk (or any hardscape really, i thought they would use the black concrete 'brick' thing they've used in other parts) close to King/Victoria, along Victoria... but that whole stretch is now lined with sod - odd choice for what is expected to be the densest urban hub in the Region.

I guess you can't please everyone, but - you're kidding, right? I think it looks absolutely glorious and I welcome any and all green that can be added to the urban landscape. Francis between King and Duke, and all of Borden look a kajillion times better than they used to.

[GtwoK]

I think it fully depends on the surroundings - grass can make urban areas feel more welcoming, while the gray concrete can make unwelcoming areas feel more urban.

[tomh009]

Is it just me or is anyone else not pleased with the amount of new grass strips being added to the streetscape? I was expecting an extra wide sidewalk (or any hardscape really, i thought they would use the black concrete 'brick' thing they've used in other parts) close to King/Victoria, along Victoria... but that whole stretch is now lined with sod - odd choice for what is expected to be the densest urban hub in the Region.

I guess you can't please everyone, but - you're kidding, right?    I think it looks absolutely glorious and I welcome any and all green that can be added to the urban landscape.  Francis between King and Duke, and all of Borden look a kajillion times better than they used to.

I'm with Iain on this.  Although I would be even happier if they were to add some trees or shrubbery next year (or later).

[timio]

I guess you can't please everyone, but - you're kidding, right?    I think it looks absolutely glorious and I welcome any and all green that can be added to the urban landscape.  Francis between King and Duke, and all of Borden look a kajillion times better than they used to.

I'm with Iain on this.  Although I would be even happier if they were to add some trees or shrubbery next year (or 

A shrubbery?!

[Markster]

I'm in favour of grass anywhere that it's not going to be trampled because they made the sidewalk too narrow or poorly aligned.

[danbrotherston]

I'm in favour of grass anywhere that it's not going to be trampled because they made the sidewalk too narrow or poorly aligned.

There's an especially potent example of this near GRH, where the sidewalk does a rather large zig-zag to traverse a gradient.  I'm sure it's necessary for users with limited mobility or using mobility aids, and obviously outside a hospital this is of prime importance, but every single able bodied user will simply walk across the grass, so why not skip the grass and put in a step or two instead.

[GtwoK]

I guess you can't please everyone, but - you're kidding, right?    I think it looks absolutely glorious and I welcome any and all green that can be added to the urban landscape.  Francis between King and Duke, and all of Borden look a kajillion times better than they used to.

I'm with Iain on this.  Although I would be even happier if they were to add some trees or shrubbery next year (or later).

They've added trees to a few spots along the line! Along Duke between Water / Francis, Along Charles... also between Water and Francis. I can't rememberif anywhere else. Maybe down by Stirling?

[GtwoK]

Anyone been up to Northfield recently? With the street and ramps reopening tomorrow, curious to see how it looks!

[JoeKW]

Bilbao LRT does a good job with grass:

   

[tomh009]

I'm with Iain on this.  Although I would be even happier if they were to add some trees or shrubbery next year (or later).

They've added trees to a few spots along the line! Along Duke between Water / Francis, Along Charles... also between Water and Francis. I can't rememberif anywhere else. Maybe down by Stirling?

That's great!  Will look out for those.

[tomh009]

According to a post on the Facebook group, forms are starting to go up for the platform at Mill station.

Not much there yet for the platform:
   

EB (?) track looks good though:
   

Embedded track only at the crossing: