ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Smore]

The derailer has been in place between King and Regina routinely for the last 6 months or more.

[Canard]

The platform at Seagram/Laurier/Waterloo Park got concrete forms today!

   

The second track now extends all the way South to University Ave. Just one more small chunk between University and Seagram to go!

   

   

[clasher]

Looking good! I was on Caroline today and can't believe how different (and good!) the street is gonna be with a train running down there.

[Canard]

The incremental improvements for the surrounding areas immediately touching the line (curbs, sidewalks, roads, lighting, planters, etc.) are going to make this project look absolutely spectacular. There's a word for that kind of thing, I can't think of what it is. We're not just getting a Rapid Transit system - we're getting a whole brushstroke of freshness running right through the core of our region, ready to spawn a bright future.

[ookpik]

Walking on the new tracks across from Waterloo Town Square today I noticed that there was duct tape on the tracks every couple of meters. That looked really weird at first glance. On closer inspection it seems the tape was to hold expansion material in place while the concrete was poured.

[Canard]

That's right - for embedded track, there's a rubber boot that covers encapsulates the rail in the concrete to reduce noise and vibration.  To hold it in place when they pour the concrete, they use duct tape.

The Rapid Transit team actually tweeted about this earlier this week, and they're preparing a video about it.

Here are some close-up photos from last fall, before and after a pour:

   

   

   

[insider]

Could someone post some supportive comments here:

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6262...s-on-edge/


If there is a place in the Region that can succeed even with a street closure, is Uptown. Really heavy pedestrian traffic, and people are already used to parking one or two blocks away from their destination.

[ookpik]

What I don't understand is why the city allowed the new construction on Willis Way during the LRT construction. Not only does that increase truck traffic in the downtown core, increase traffic chaos overall, create delays getting in and out of the parking areas on either side of Caroline, create all sorts of additional difficulties for pedestrians and cyclists, but it dramatically reduces available parking spots.

Now this will get even further compounded by the closure of King St for at least the next 9 months. Someone should update the wikipedia entry for "idiocy" to include this as a prime example.

[Viewfromthe42]

Considering the number of businesses which have closed up in the current Wildfire space, it's a bit rich to hear that they might close up because of ION.

[SammyOES]

I think the businesses have a legitimate complaint. I'll be less likely to head uptown for certain things this year - because its definitely going to be more of a pain to get around.

That being said, the region is also right. Construction happens all the time for maintenance and improvements and we can't subsidize all of it. And in this case the LRT is almost certainly going to bring more business uptown once its running.

Maybe there's a way to compensate businesses by looking at their books and covering some new losses now but pay for it by taking some new gains in the future. But I suspect not many people would go for that.

[jamincan]

It looks like they may shortly be switching traffic from the south side of Northfield and the west side of King to the north and easy side respectively. I just drove by there and they already have the lines painted.

[KevinL]

Ontario is now closed at Charles as trackwork inexorably moves further south. Here's the view from this morning:





By the time I passed the site again tonight, track had been extended all the way up to nearly in the intersection.

[MacBerry]

Forgot to post these yesterday - and Canard has pipped me a bit - but here's another look at the Gaukel intersection area.



I love this bit of pedestrian accessibility!

I give them credit for an outdoor pathway that technically meets the Ontario accessibility standard   

[nms]

Considering the number of businesses which have closed up in the current Wildfire space, it's a bit rich to hear that they might close up because of ION.

Only two restaurants have closed in that space in the last few years.  Ali Baba after a very long run and then Baton Rouge after a very short period that would suggest that something else happened at a higher corporate level (a "realignment of corporate priorities and target markets" might be how it is explained).

A larger question should be, how can the general infrastructure upgrade system be changed so it isn't onerous on a business to claim losses when an upgrade is carried out?  For instance, the easiest way might be to defer the property tax on an affected area until after the construction is complete.  There wouldn't be any need to prove lost sales since the property tax rate is independent of business activity.  The deferral would be attached to the property as an incentive for the business owner to stick around once the project is finished.  Staff (and contractors) would have the incentive that every construction delay would directly affect the Region (or City) bottomline.  Just a thought.

[TMKM94]

I understand the businesses that were on King St. for many years being upset with the road being closed for so long, but IMO the Wildfire owner has no right to complain about it, he knew way before he opened the restaurant that King was going to be closed for about a year.