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Is the GRH platform designed to be accessed from the north? I ask because I was looking at it the other day and there are no curb cuts that align with that end of the platform’s ramp and there are at least eight (8) different levels of concrete and track to traverse (see diagrams below) without a proper ramp and level crossing. Would that mean you’d have to walk up the middle from Mt. Hope to access the north end of the platform or is it only to be officially accessed from the south (at Pine St)? Has this type of design, with so many different levels on the cross-section, been used in other winter climates? The more I see this design the greater my concerns for snow and ice clearing grows.
Also, a similar question about the UW platform. How are they expecting users to access the platform from the south, say when you are coming from east campus/E5 to the platform or going from the platform to east campus/E5? The drawings ( http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/...df#page=10) seem to suggest that a path was supposed to be built on the east side (yellow line in diagram below), but that no longer seems to be the case since the retaining wall and fence are now complete. The path they expect users to take (green line in diagram below) which is a longer route. I expect that many users will simply take a risky shortcut (red line below).
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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08-04-2016, 06:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-04-2016, 08:33 AM by Canard.)
No one will be crossing 8 different heights by design (and they certainly won't be walking down the centre of the Rapidway). If they are, they're crossing at a spot that is not a designated crossing. I don't know what the design is, but the platforms seem to be all poured as "standard" with ramps at both ends. On King at the Hospital, the South end of the platform is how you'll get to it, from the pedestrian crossing at the road there.
At the North end of the platform, it'll probably (hopefully?) be like what's done in other places, where there is a railing or fence that discourages access from places that people shouldn't be crossing:
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Very pleased to spot the welding crew by Full Circle just now. Once that is welded and the track embedded, it will close the final gap on Charles within the downtown loop!
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08-04-2016, 01:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-04-2016, 01:01 PM by Canard.)
Yeah! Now just need to get the section by Cameron Heights finished. When I rode by last night, it looked like there has been no activity here for a week or two (Charles, Benton to Borden). Everyone on the crew has moved up to Northfield, it seems. As per last night's photo update, you can see that both embedded curve rails on Northfield still need welding before they can be mounted to the green steel ties. Maybe that will happen in the next few days.
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Still decent amount of work at King and Victoria. Saw a woman barrel through the open-for-dump-trucks construction gates coming from the north Victoria side. If anything proves that motorists will do whatever you make physically possible, it's been shown in living at Kaufman. To this day, every 30 seconds from before dawn til after dusk, someone will wind up at the gates, and every day someone will drive into the construction area or worse.
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(08-04-2016, 01:22 PM)BrianT Wrote: (08-04-2016, 01:09 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: Still decent amount of work at King and Victoria. Saw a woman barrel through the open-for-dump-trucks construction gates coming from the north Victoria side. If anything proves that motorists will do whatever you make physically possible, it's been shown in living at Kaufman. To this day, every 30 seconds from before dawn til after dusk, someone will wind up at the gates, and every day someone will drive into the construction area or worse.
I watch them from my deck at 1 Victoria and every 30 seconds is no exaggeration. They don't seem to believe that 'closed' means CLOSED, even though the signs are pretty clear.
It was the same when Weber was closed at Dutton for a few weeks, drivers would still waste time driving down Weber from Parkside (Signed as access to Dutton only) only to have to U-turn back around after waiting 20 minutes in line behind flaggers.
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08-04-2016, 01:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-04-2016, 01:31 PM by GtwoK.)
My favourite passtime is watching them do it at Duke / Francis. Drive past 2 "ROAD CLOSED" signs, and slowly squeeze their car in between the traffic cones, which don't look ~open~ per se, but do happen to be JUST wide enough to squeeze a car through. Yet somehow, despite all that, they'd get to the hole carved for the track across Duke, and stop for 30 seconds while they figure out, "Huh, I can't cross here?", before attempting a 25 point turn to get out of the not-so subtle construction zone.
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(07-24-2016, 10:35 AM)eizenstriet Wrote: I watch them from my deck at 1 Victoria and every 30 seconds is no exaggeration. They don't seem to believe that 'closed' means CLOSED, even though the signs are pretty clear.
That's because there are too many signs crying wolf, and ‘closed’ often doesn't mean closed, and ‘local traffic’ rarely tells you whether you can reach your destination or not.
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There are stories like this from all over, I've had drivers drive up the sidewalk and yell at me for being "in the road". I've seen try to drive over, and get wedged on the rail tracks in the park at the pedestrian crossing.
I'm not sure there's an answer, part of the cause is the city's misuse of closed signs to do traffic calming, but that only explains so much.
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(08-04-2016, 02:12 PM)kps Wrote: (07-24-2016, 10:35 AM)eizenstriet Wrote: I watch them from my deck at 1 Victoria and every 30 seconds is no exaggeration. They don't seem to believe that 'closed' means CLOSED, even though the signs are pretty clear.
That's because there are too many signs crying wolf, and ‘closed’ often doesn't mean closed, and ‘local traffic’ rarely tells you whether you can reach your destination or not.
Yes, I routinely turn Eastbound on "closed" Erb St W. at Westmount and then turn right on David Bauer, which quite often has been "closed" too.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pouring cement between the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> tracks in front of <a href="https://twitter.com/GRHospitalKW">@GRHospitalKW</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/CTVKitchener">@CTVKitchener</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> is lookin' good! <a href="https://t.co/ieawDame7F">pic.twitter.com/ieawDame7F</a></p>— Dan Lauckner (@vidman) <a href="https://twitter.com/vidman/status/761248338708529152">August 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
Centre concrete going in near GRH! This is a first (concrete pour to finish off the gaps between embedded track segments).
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I knew it was going to be concrete that went in the middle, but seeing it actually there, it looks so... utilitarian? I kinda wish it was at least coloured concrete, if not landscaping.
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Have a look at G:Link's Nerang St. section - that's pretty much exactly what the Midtown King, Charles, and Northfield sections will look like!
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The difference there, though is the yellow of the curbs, the pink painted areas, and the green of the trees. Helps make it look a lot more colourful. Ours will be entirely greyscale, with the exception of some blue on the trains 
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