ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[tomh009]

Meanwhile, over on Ottawa ...

Rebar is laid for a long stretch, starting from Charles:
   

And rails have been delivered, waiting for placement:
   

[Canard]

Embedded track only at the crossing:

Slight correction - that actually ballasted track with deck plates, just like on be Waterloo Spur. The wider concrete ties are what the deck plates will sit on, for the ion track in the background. The track in the foreground is for freight and has wooden ties (but same idea - wider ties in the crossing area support the deck plates).

[tomh009]

Thanks -- didn't realize that it's only deck plates! Consider me a little bit more educated, once again.

[Pheidippides]

Trees have also gone in along Allen and along King near Allen.

The first pieces of track are being dragged on to rough position across William.

The tree cells were getting filled with top soil today in uptown.

With the exception of right in front of the RED it is almost a continuous sidewalk from Willis to Wellington on the east side of King; only a single panel or so missing per block.

[Canard]

Thanks -- didn't realize that it's only deck plates!  Consider me a little bit more educated, once again.

No problem - but you got me thinking, I wonder what the curve off the Huron Spur onto Ottawa for the NB track is going to look like. It has to cross Mill, and the Functional Design plans have it all crossed out (i.e. - it's been changed since it was published).

[Canard]

Since this is out in the open now, I guess I can talk about it:  This is the new Ontario standard LRT pictogram:

   
(without the blue circle)

That single ugly one-off sign on Borden will get replaced, and this is the new icon that is replacing it.  All future LRT lines in Ontario will use this same icon - which is absolutely fantastic.

Sorry, notmyfriends.

[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.

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.

As I said, I like the way it looks. But in an urban environment, grass actually affects mobility and pedestrian movement. Grass is more difficult to walk on (wheelchairs, strollers, etc.) than on a smooth hard surface. Has anyone here ever heard of bioswales? There are lots of examples where you can keep a great pedestrian environment with actually useful landscape infrastructure. Grass just needs regular maintenance, water, etc. What I mean is that yes, having green is great, but in an urban environment it is better to have it either in defined planting beds, or bioswales that actually have a function, or planters. Not as grass.

The sidewalk along Victoria, from Joseph to Charles feels extremely narrow now with all that grass: two people barely fit side by side. 

A couple examples of better defined greenery:

[KevinL]

I guess King Street in central downtown ticks your boxes, then?

[jamincan]

Since this is out in the open now, I guess I can talk about it:  This is the new Ontario standard LRT pictogram:


(without the blue circle)

That single ugly one-off sign on Borden will get replaced, and this is the new icon that is replacing it.  All future LRT lines in Ontario will use this same icon - which is absolutely fantastic.

Sorry, notmyfriends.

I kind of wish there was less clutter on the design, but I like it nonetheless.

   

[Canard]

Infinite improvement over Borden-tram! Remember that?

[notmyfriends]

Infinite improvement over Borden-tram!  Remember that?

To each his own  <3

[DHLawrence]

I'm kind of sorry they aren't using the CLRV or PCC pictograms.

[Viewfromthe42]

Things I didn't think I'd see: at King, between Francis and Victoria, it looks like there's a sign suggesting that buses drive onto the LRT tracks between the two streets. I don't know how I feel about this, but it'll be interesting to see if it's true.

[Markster]

You mean this?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is dead wrong, literally. Can we fix this <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a>? <a href="https://t.co/eGcVJ4UuGd">pic.twitter.com/eGcVJ4UuGd</a></p>&mdash; Andrew Dodds (@AndrewJDodds) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewJDodds/status/781589164592627712">September 29, 2016</a></blockquote>

Looks like they'll be fixing it.

[timc]

That sign is clearly there for train operators so they don't drive into the other lane on King Street.