ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Based on previous crossings, I think yes! It'll be tight, but I bet they'll pull it off.  Or at least be within a week or so of that date.

I am curious, why do you mention Caroline/Erb closing for 4 months, with regard to the Union/King intersection?  Or are you just comparing the scope of work?  If that is the case, those are two totally different beasts.  Caroline/Erb is a monumental task, while Union/King is a very simple crossing. Or are you saying that somehow Union/King is a bypass that people would use if Erb/Caroline is closed? If so, how?

[GtwoK]

The latest Ion update claimed that the Caroline / Erb intersection would not close until both Union / King and William / King reopened.

[timio]

The latest Ion update claimed that the Caroline / Erb intersection would not close until both Union / King and William / King reopened.

This.

On or about May 16, Caroline/Erb will close for approximately four months. Detours will be in place from King to University to Westmount and from Erb to Regina to William. Access to the Waterloo Town Square North lot will be available via Caroline. Both the King/William and King/Union intersections will re-open prior to the Caroline/Erb closure

[timc]

Based on previous crossings, I think yes! It'll be tight, but I bet they'll pull it off.  Or at least be within a week or so of that date.

I am curious, why do you mention Caroline/Erb closing for 4 months, with regard to the Union/King intersection?  Or are you just comparing the scope of work?  If that is the case, those are two totally different beasts.  Caroline/Erb is a monumental task, while Union/King is a very simple crossing.  Or are you saying that somehow Union/King is a bypass that people would use if Erb/Caroline is closed?  If so, how?

If you want to get from one side of Uptown to the other, and Willis and Erb/Caroline are closed, you pretty much need to use William or Union, right?

[timc]

Meanwhile, in London...

I was going to say that there isn't anything *really* wrong with a full BRT system. But talking about building BRT and transitioning to LRT in the future doesn't make any sense to me. You're going to end up paying so much more if you go that route.

[panamaniac]

The period of time between a BRT and a transition to LRT is so long that there seems to me to be no significant downside in proceeding that way.

[Canard]

If you want to get from one side of Uptown to the other, and Willis and Erb/Caroline are closed, you pretty much need to use William or Union, right?

I'm not sure - I guess I hadn't thought about that particular scenario. In looking at Google Maps, I see that yes, it would make things difficult. So I would say that the email sent out a few days ago that stated that they would not start construction at Erb/Caroline until Union/King was reopened is probably valid (and a good idea).

I was going to say that there isn't anything *really* wrong with a full BRT system. But talking about building BRT and transitioning to LRT in the future doesn't make any sense to me. You're going to end up paying so much more if you go that route.

...as Ottawa is discovering now. Although they got a good 30-years or whatever out of their BRT, building ridership first, I suppose.

[JoeKW]

If you're at the point where a BRT is heavily used and you need the capacity of an LRT wouldn't it be virtually impossible to shut down the system for 2 years to turn it into an LRT?

[panamaniac]

If you're at the point where a BRT is heavily used and you need the capacity of an LRT wouldn't it be virtually impossible to shut down the system for 2 years to turn it into an LRT?

Others will know better than me, but there's this clever thing known as "detours"....

[Canard]

That assumes being able to dump a crapload of buses, which used to be able to zip along dedicated RoW's unimpeded, onto city streets which are already jam-packed. Again, as Ottawa is discovering! Very painful process.

[panamaniac]

We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are difficult.

I guess ten years from now, we'll know who got it right - K-W or London.

[Canard]

I suspect we'd have to fast-forward about 35 years to see the true answer to that - when London's BRT is at capacity, and has to be replaced/upgraded to Light Rail (or some other technology). But it may well enough have completely revitalized London by that time, thus achieving its initial goal for a slightly lower price - who knows! We'll have the Ontario variety pack of transit solutions (minus Monorail, sadly) - and will get to see which ones work best over the next few decades.

Thankfully, none of Ontario's proposed systems are streetcars. The US is on this huge streetcar kick right now - off the top of my head, Atlanta, Cinci, Kansas City, DC... the KC system opens next weekend; I'll be riding it sometime this summer. I don't like that they're all operating in traffic lanes. The DC streetcar route takes 27 minutes, and it takes 26 minutes to walk it. A dismal failure.

[Pheidippides]

Kind of seems like the expressway debate of decades ago playing out again.

[Pheidippides]

Had the surreal experience of following the pedestrian detour along Charles and suddenly finding myself on the Victoria Park platform this morning:
   

Getting more real by the day!

[Canard]

Yes! This is one of the more interesting stations as far as shoehorning it in, because the platform will actually be the sidewalk, too.