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05-26-2020, 02:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2020, 02:37 PM by danbrotherston.)
(05-26-2020, 12:28 PM)Nextasy Wrote: Not sure if this was posted already, but Highland is finally getting a MUT on both sides to Ira Needles.
Guess that hit-and-run death turned up the pressure. Happy to see it, but a sad state of affairs.
That project was planned and proposed long before the death. Unfortunately, as is typical for the region, it has nothing to do with safety, nor cycling infra, the project is planned because the road is 10-20 years away from being over capacity for a two lane road. Therefore regional doctrine requires it be widened immediately. And because the road is undergoing work, and regional staff must maintain the illusion of supporting the strategic pillars, this pig (road expansion) is slated to get lipstick (active transpo infra).
(Now pay attention those who think I never say anything good), I have mentioned this project before however, because which ever engineers were involved in actually designing this improvement also proposed the best active transportation infrastructure I've ever seen in the region. The MUTs have proper fully protected intersections designed for all three major signalized intersections, the turn radii are...if not residential, than at least minimized as far as the region allows, these are things I have never seen before in the region. And I don't mean to imply the bar is low, the proposed infrastructure is legitimately excellent outside of a regional context.
While this does not negate the harm an unnecessarily wide road will cause, it does show that even within the restrictive bounds of regional upper management, lower level engineers do have the power to create some great cycling infrastructure, if they have the skills and willingness to do so.
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(05-11-2020, 07:33 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: (05-11-2020, 05:15 PM)panamaniac Wrote: I want to say that the Stirling St extension/bridge was built in the mid-1960s. Am I in the ballpark or is my memory failing me?
The bridge was built in 1967. This is 1963 aerial imagery with the eventual location marked.
![[Image: jD4yh5O.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/jD4yh5O.jpg) This by the old junkyard? With the Volkswagen repair shop across the street? Is that the bridge we're talking about?
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05-27-2020, 08:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-27-2020, 08:28 AM by robdrimmie.)
The Stirling Ave bridge is beside the plaza where the Stampede used to be, and Nougat Bakery currently is.
Not all my landmarks are bars and bakeries, only the best ones
edit to add: There is a repair shop at the corner across from the plaza, I'm not sure if it's vw-specific though.
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Off topic, but does anybody else remember the big tire fire that happened in the 1960s in the (then) open area to the "south-west" of the (now) Stirling Ave bridge? I think the tire dump would have been in the area that is now a large industrial warehouse, or slightly further to the "south-west", closer to Shoemaker Creek. I recall as a child that it burned for days, with a giant pillar of black smoke. Nowadays, I'm sure there would be evacuations/warnings about the fumes, but back them it was just more of a curiosity. The tire dump was eliminated afterward, however.
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(05-27-2020, 08:26 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: The Stirling Ave bridge is beside the plaza where the Stampede used to be, and Nougat Bakery currently is.
Not all my landmarks are bars and bakeries, only the best ones ![Big Grin Big Grin](https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
edit to add: There is a repair shop at the corner across from the plaza, I'm not sure if it's vw-specific though.
The VW-specific repair shop is (was?) at the other side of the bridge, across from the community centre. They serviced my car sometime back in the 90s ...
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(05-27-2020, 09:03 AM)tomh009 Wrote: (05-27-2020, 08:26 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: The Stirling Ave bridge is beside the plaza where the Stampede used to be, and Nougat Bakery currently is.
Not all my landmarks are bars and bakeries, only the best ones ![Big Grin Big Grin](https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
edit to add: There is a repair shop at the corner across from the plaza, I'm not sure if it's vw-specific though.
The VW-specific repair shop is (was?) at the other side of the bridge, across from the community centre. They serviced my car sometime back in the 90s ...
There is still an active auto shop there, and there's been a signage update sometime in the past decade or thereabouts, but beyond that I know nothing.
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(05-27-2020, 11:49 AM)robdrimmie Wrote: (05-27-2020, 09:03 AM)tomh009 Wrote: The VW-specific repair shop is (was?) at the other side of the bridge, across from the community centre. They serviced my car sometime back in the 90s ...
There is still an active auto shop there, and there's been a signage update sometime in the past decade or thereabouts, but beyond that I know nothing.
Apparently it's now Uniglass Ziebart.
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Reconstruction of Highland Road from Fischer Hallman to Ira Neeldes has finally begun, with the focus being Westforest -> Ira Needles this year and next, followed by the rest. It seems the contractors are giving priority to getting the multi-use trail on the north side complete first. Likely a good idea with the new towers at the corner and the lack of pedestrian infrastructure in that stretch.
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(08-17-2020, 10:22 PM)timio Wrote: Reconstruction of Highland Road from Fischer Hallman to Ira Neeldes has finally begun, with the focus being Westforest -> Ira Needles this year and next, followed by the rest. It seems the contractors are giving priority to getting the multi-use trail on the north side complete first. Likely a good idea with the new towers at the corner and the lack of pedestrian infrastructure in that stretch.
Yeah, I'm guessing that priority might be as a result of the vehicular manslaughter that occurred here...
I still don't think they have made an arrest or charged anyone...just another road fatality in our region.
Of course, the fact we are entirely unnecessarily (even by the regional engineers admission, the road does not have the traffic to justify 4 lanes...they feel it might in 20-30 years) widening yet another road in the middle of a budgetary crisis in the middle of a climate emergency.
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(08-17-2020, 10:27 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yeah, I'm guessing that priority might be as a result of the vehicular manslaughter that occurred here...
I still don't think they have made an arrest or charged anyone...just another road fatality in our region.
That was a hit and run, was it not?
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(08-17-2020, 10:35 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (08-17-2020, 10:27 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yeah, I'm guessing that priority might be as a result of the vehicular manslaughter that occurred here...
I still don't think they have made an arrest or charged anyone...just another road fatality in our region.
That was a hit and run, was it not?
Yup...that's why I'm calling it manslaughter...
There is clearly an attempt to cover it up...there is zero chance this was an accident (and I already don't consider most collisions accidental).
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08-18-2020, 10:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-18-2020, 10:45 AM by panamaniac.)
(08-17-2020, 11:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: (08-17-2020, 10:35 PM)tomh009 Wrote: That was a hit and run, was it not?
Yup...that's why I'm calling it manslaughter...
There is clearly an attempt to cover it up...there is zero chance this was an accident (and I already don't consider most collisions accidental).
An attempt to evade responsibility/justice, surely? Or are you suggesting that authorities are involved in a cover up?
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(08-18-2020, 10:45 AM)panamaniac Wrote: (08-17-2020, 11:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yup...that's why I'm calling it manslaughter...
There is clearly an attempt to cover it up...there is zero chance this was an accident (and I already don't consider most collisions accidental).
An attempt to evade responsibility/justice, surely? Or are you suggesting that authorities are involved in a cover up?
Yes, an attempt by the purpetrator, and their friends or relatives, to cover it up, not by the authorities...I have no information or opinion on the likelihood of that.
Perhaps "cover it up" is not the best to describe it...but it was the first wording that came to mind.
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Is the perpetrator known, then? But insufficient proof to charge him or her?
Generally the police will throw the book at any hit-and-run driver, but that does assume they can identify the driver, and have sufficient evidence to chare that person.
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