ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[kwliving]

I just watched the sign removal on Westmount Rd that said King St at Union St intersection was closed. That should make getting across town a lot easier again.

[GtwoK]

Was walking along side the Kaufman Lofts @ Francis today. They've only been working on the section for what, 1 week, maybe 2 now? Yet they already had a cat pole foundation in next to the Lofts. Kind of strange considering the minimum 3 months still left on this road closure.

Even stranger still, the foundation was on the west side of the road, when track here is supposed to be running on the east side. Anyone know why that might be?

Was walking by again today, took a few pics. Noticed that, not onyly are the pole foundations running all the way along Francis (rather than just at the intersections), they're also running along both sides of the road. Quite peculiar.

There's 4 in this picture...



And 2 more in this one...



And a couple more that were out of frame.

[Viewfromthe42]

It might be that half are Catpoles, half are just light standards?

[Waterlooer]

They're installing the black chain link fence through Waterloo Park right now. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

[panamaniac]

They're installing the black chain link fence through Waterloo Park right now. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

But does it look GOOD?

[BuildingScout]

I'd like to address what I highlighted not because I think you had bad intent, but because I want to speak up about the perspective of disability.

Blind people don't need taking care of. They are also people and should be acknowledged as such, as in blind people or people who are blind or vision impaired.

Regarding the Japanese intersections you referred to, they were (re)designed so that a person with any type of vision impairment doesn't have the common barriers we have here. It allows them to cross the road safely and independently. Needs were accommodated that allowed independence.

Barriers are often attitudinal. If we can change people to believe that most disabilities can be overcome by improving the environment we live in, everyone could live in a much more accessible world. Often barriers can be removed at little or no extra cost. Convincing people of that proves to be the difficult task.

*soapbox off*

You are splitting hairs here just to take offense where none is intended. Obviously he meant taking care of issues that arise from being visually impaired such as adding street markings or auditory crossing signals.

[ijmorlan]

They're installing the black chain link fence through Waterloo Park right now. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would.

But does it look GOOD?

No, but another detail that I noticed between Seagram and University: in at least some areas the fence is actually part way down the ditch. So the visual impact is similar to what a sensible fence would have been i.e. only 3-4 feet above the surrounding terrain. Still dumb, but not as ugly as it could have been. Anybody for barbed wire?

[jamincan]

Regarding the TPSSs, I seem to recall something in the original plans about ways they were supposed to be disguised somewhat with various options depending on the location on the line. I don't recall exactly what the options were, but I don't think any of them were supposed to be completely bare.

[Canard]

I can't find it in any of the RFP documents... was it a public consultation thing, maybe?

[Canard]

   
Fences are now up through Waterloo Park.

   

   
Track/road interface work at Columbia is wrapping up.

   

   

[Canard]

...continued from previous page...

   

   
A long line of cars wait to turn left onto Dupont off of Bridgeport; a forced turn, since Erb/Caroline is now closed.

   

   
Erb/Caroline is now getting down to the heavy construction.

   

[Canard]

   
Erb is now two-way between King St. and the upper entrance/exit to the North Uptown lot.

[timc]

Any idea why Columbia has taken so long this time around? It was supposed to be closed for three days starting on Friday, and it has been five now. I don't know if they finished today, but they were still working at 5 pm. The combination of Columbia being closed along with Erb/Caroline has made University Avenue extra special this week.

[Canard]

I'm really not sure, but the work looked significant; they had the pavement cut well back - even past the Laurel Trail. It seemed to be limited to track aligning and road/deck plate adjustment, though.

[timio]

A long line of cars wait to turn left onto Dupont off of Bridgeport; a forced turn, since Erb/Caroline is now closed.

That's a lot of people who can't read.  Perhaps they won't make the same mistake the next time they try to go that direction.