General Road and Highway Discussion

[the_conestoga_guy]

Looks like the EngageWR site has been updated for the Lancaster Street Reconstruction project. There's now a link for the proposed layout drawings, plus a survey. It appears that the preferred alternative layout includes grade-separated cycle lanes, which is a nice change for the Region.

https://www.engagewr.ca/kitchener-lancaster-street

[tomh009]

Is straight through actually prohibited? I noticed the road paint shows only left and right turns, but my understanding is that's not legally binding. There would need to be a no straight through sign up, which I haven't seen (though also haven't looked closely). I was assuming it was just a paint error.

A bit off topic, but since the original discussion was here... There are indeed no straight through signs up now:

I looked at the signs earlier this week, and I am actually more mystified now. Why is driving straight through prohibited when they allow turns onto Ontario St (Kitchener) northbound from King St? Does prohibiting driving straight increase cyclist safety, or is there some other kind of rationale that escapes me?

[danbrotherston]

A bit off topic, but since the original discussion was here... There are indeed no straight through signs up now:

I looked at the signs earlier this week, and I am actually more mystified now. Why is driving straight through prohibited when they allow turns onto Ontario St (Kitchener) northbound from King St? Does prohibiting driving straight increase cyclist safety, or is there some other kind of rationale that escapes me?

I'm guessing it's just a traffic calming measure.

At this point, I'm assuming that my expectations have been more or less confirmed here.

The Ontario segment of the cycle grid has been cancelled...protected bike lanes won't continue past King. I'm sure that Duke St. cancellation doesn't help, but I know that I will never patronize the businesses on this end of the street again (and I'm not the only one), if anyone else does, feel free to let them know that they have lost customers as a result of their pro-car anti-cycling advocacy.

[jamincan]

Don't you live in the Netherlands now?

[tomh009]

At this point, I'm assuming that my expectations have been more or less confirmed here.

The Ontario segment of the cycle grid has been cancelled...protected bike lanes won't continue past King. I'm sure that Duke St. cancellation doesn't help, but I know that I will never patronize the businesses on this end of the street again (and I'm not the only one), if anyone else does, feel free to let them know that they have lost customers as a result of their pro-car anti-cycling advocacy.

In addition to Legacy Greens, do you know which other businesses opposed the bike lanes?

[ijmorlan]

Looks like the EngageWR site has been updated for the Lancaster Street Reconstruction project. There's now a link for the proposed layout drawings, plus a survey. It appears that the preferred alternative layout includes grade-separated cycle lanes, which is a nice change for the Region.

https://www.engagewr.ca/kitchener-lancaster-street

It actually looks pretty decent. There is even a suggestion of closing the Conestoga Parkway on and off ramps at Lancaster, which actually fits into my idea of closing Lancaster to motor vehicles at the railway crossing.

[dtkvictim]

I looked at the signs earlier this week, and I am actually more mystified now. Why is driving straight through prohibited when they allow turns onto Ontario St (Kitchener) northbound from King St? Does prohibiting driving straight increase cyclist safety, or is there some other kind of rationale that escapes me?

My guess (I think I posted earlier) is to prevent conflict between cars and cyclists both going straight by only allowing one to do so. And as Dan said, cyclists will have less cars to deal with on Ontario St because it also acts as traffic calming. Mind you, these merging conflicts happen in 100s of places throughout the city where painted bicycle lanes just end with no guidance, so maybe it's not that.

FWIW, a very large portion of cars go straight through anyways, and I'm sure a number of turning cars were going to turn regardless, so I think the restriction has already mostly failed.

[danbrotherston]

Don't you live in the Netherlands now?

Yes, but I am not the only one who has changed their patronage as a result of their decision to oppose the DT grid.

[danbrotherston]

At this point, I'm assuming that my expectations have been more or less confirmed here.

The Ontario segment of the cycle grid has been cancelled...protected bike lanes won't continue past King. I'm sure that Duke St. cancellation doesn't help, but I know that I will never patronize the businesses on this end of the street again (and I'm not the only one), if anyone else does, feel free to let them know that they have lost customers as a result of their pro-car anti-cycling advocacy.

In addition to Legacy Greens, do you know which other businesses opposed the bike lanes?

Only the proprietor of Legacy Greens spoke at the meeting, but she at least claimed to also speak for the owners of the other businesses on the street. I'm pretty sure she named them explicitly, but I'd have to re-watch to meeting to be sure. AFAIK there are only 3-4 other businesses on that section (Show & Tell, Adventures Guild, and Two Goblets, and possibly another business near Duke, but I'm not sure).

[Acitta]

Downtown Cambridge truck diversion study
Project overview
The Downtown Cambridge Truck Diversion study is looking at the impacts of diverting trucks from downtown Cambridge along Water and Ainslie streets and bringing recommendations to Council for a decision. If approved, the diversion would see trucks that are driving through the downtown core, rerouted along McQueen Shaver Boulevard, Franklin Boulevard, Dundas Street, Main Street, and Concession Street.

Engagement — Public meeting, December 1, 2022, 6–8 p.m.
As we progress through this project, we'd like to hear from you! Join us via Zoom on Thursday, Dec 1 from 6 to 8 p.m.

We’ll record the presentation portion of the meeting and post it on this project page by December 8 should this meeting time not be convenient for you.

Our team at the Region of Waterloo will share where we are in the project, our study process, possible diversion routes and what that means for residents on those roads, and next steps — and we want to hear your thoughts. Share your comments with us between November 29 and December 19, 2022, by completing the online survey.

[bravado]

Downtown Cambridge truck diversion study
Project overview
The Downtown Cambridge Truck Diversion study is looking at the impacts of diverting trucks from downtown Cambridge along Water and Ainslie streets and bringing recommendations to Council for a decision. If approved, the diversion would see trucks that are driving through the downtown core, rerouted along McQueen Shaver Boulevard, Franklin Boulevard, Dundas Street, Main Street, and Concession Street.

Engagement — Public meeting, December 1, 2022, 6–8 p.m.
As we progress through this project, we'd like to hear from you! Join us via Zoom on Thursday, Dec 1 from 6 to 8 p.m.

We’ll record the presentation portion of the meeting and post it on this project page by December 8 should this meeting time not be convenient for you.

Our team at the Region of Waterloo will share where we are in the project, our study process, possible diversion routes and what that means for residents on those roads, and next steps — and we want to hear your thoughts. Share your comments with us between November 29 and December 19, 2022, by completing the online survey.

I still don't get why this meeting is happening, but I'm excited to be there since this is generally my neighbourhood.

They've already built the south boundary road for truck bypass and planned the rest of it, so I don't know why more public input is needed...

[ac3r]

This isn't related to Waterloo Region in any way, but Road Guy Rob released a new video a few days ago on zig-zaggy streets found in some parts of California.

These zig-zaggy roads were more or less unintentional but ended up being a good traffic calming method. Functionally, they're not too different from the large speedbumps we put on some roads in our region (particularly near school zones or areas where there are a lot of elderly people) but since they're designed for medium sized collector roads, they aim to slow traffic down without large bumps which may potentially be a superior way to slow traffic since you wouldn't have people braking for the bump, speeding up, braking for the next bump et al.

As you can see in the video they're not perfect since people can just ignore the lines, but as a comment in the video points out: all you'd need are some form of barrier such as flexiposts that can forcibly funnel people to stay in the lane, thereby slowing traffic possibly more effectively than giant speedbumps.

Are there any roads in the region you can think of that could benefit from this? Or do you think these are at all a viable traffic calming method for our local road infrastructure?

If you haven't heard of Road Guy Rob before, check his channel out! He makes really good videos on road/vehicular transportation yet doesn't even have 100'000k subscribers yet.

[bravado]

This isn't related to Waterloo Region in any way, but Road Guy Rob released a new video a few days ago on zig-zaggy streets found in some parts of California.

These zig-zaggy roads were more or less unintentional but ended up being a good traffic calming method. Functionally, they're not too different from the large speedbumps we put on some roads in our region (particularly near school zones or areas where there are a lot of elderly people) but since they're designed for medium sized collector roads, they aim to slow traffic down without large bumps which may potentially be a superior way to slow traffic since you wouldn't have people braking for the bump, speeding up, braking for the next bump et al.

As you can see in the video they're not perfect since people can just ignore the lines, but as a comment in the video points out: all you'd need are some form of barrier such as flexiposts that can forcibly funnel people to stay in the lane, thereby slowing traffic possibly more effectively than giant speedbumps.

Are there any roads in the region you can think of that could benefit from this? Or do you think these are at all a viable traffic calming method for our local road infrastructure?

If you haven't heard of Road Guy Rob before, check his channel out! He makes really good videos on road/vehicular transportation yet doesn't even have 100'000k subscribers yet.

It really draws my eye to the fact that the road is far too wide..

[Chris]

Region seeking feedback on possible ramp closures at Lancaster/Highway 85

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...85-6177697

[danbrotherston]

Region seeking feedback on possible ramp closures at Lancaster/Highway 85

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...85-6177697

I mean, that's exciting that they're considering it...but I'm not holding my breath. I expect significant backlash, it's a very convenient feeling off-ramp for getting downtown (which is like...something we should be limiting anyway IMO there should be no southbound traffic on 85 south of Queen).

The fact that staff are even proposing this though...very surprising, hard to know how to interpret that.