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Kitchener: Weber Street Widening

unimaginative2

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Plan to widen Weber Street would consume homes, businesses


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December 01, 2010
BY JEFF OUTHIT, RECORD STAFF
KITCHENER — Regional council’s proposal to punch four lanes through the last narrow section of Weber Street has escalated to $52 million, affecting 53 homes and businesses.

The latest plans made public Tuesday show a widened road gobbling up 34 properties, including several businesses.

The Station plaza at Weber and Victoria streets is among properties facing demolition, along with more than two dozen homes. Most doomed properties are along the west side of Weber Street. Another 19 homes or businesses would lose parts of their frontage.

The project, proposed for construction from 2015 to 2017, was last estimated at $39 million. It has now become slightly more expensive than the bridge council is building over the Grand River at Fairway Road.

Regional government says the extra lanes are needed to eliminate a bothersome bottleneck, ease rush-hour congestion, reduce collisions at Weber and Victoria streets, and handle traffic displaced from King Street if rapid transit consumes two lanes there. The plan calls for:

• Widening Weber to four lanes between College and Guelph streets in Kitchener, and straightening it to eliminate the S-curve.

• Building an underpass beneath the CN Railway tracks, beside the Via Rail station.

• Making minor changes to four lanes of Weber between Guelph and Union streets in Kitchener and Waterloo.

Residents attending a public consultation centre said the wider road will be better for traffic. They expect it will reduce collisions. But some are also struggling with how it will affect their properties.

“It’s right what they’re doing,†Steve Browne said. “They’re straightening the street out.†But the proposal will put his Breithaupt Street home at the corner of the wider street and he worries how this might affect its value.

Ron McCarthy will lose part of his front yard. He’s frustrated planners can’t yet tell him if he’ll lose one metre or three. He worries about the escalating price tag and figures politicians should put the project to a vote by residents. “It’s our dollars that they’re spending,†he said.

Landlords Angela Campbell and Shauna Richter, who own nearby properties, figure widening Weber will help revitalize the central neighbourhood. “I think it’s a good thing,†Richter said. “It will really open up the area.â€

They point out the neighbourhood will soon have GO Transit commuter trains and a central transit hub at King and Victoria streets is also proposed. “I think it will be good for the downtown area,†Campbell said.

Regional government has already purchased nine of the properties facing demolition. No designated historic homes are in the way of the wider road.

jouthit@therecord.com
 
With King and Weber looked after only Park, Lancaster, and Bingemans Centre remain as important routes to grade separate in K-W. How did Bingemans Centre not end up being grade separated already?
 
A lot of people were very upset when that happened. It was just a budget issue. They had trouble fitting it into the capital budget and found that they could get it built right away if they eliminated the grade separation. To be fair, it's somewhat less vital than the downtown separations since trains are generally moving much more quickly out there so the disruption is less severe.
 
I'm fine with Weber Street widening. It is almost a pre-requisite for the construction of the multi-modal terminal and the LRT on King Street, as that will have to be closed to traffic as that is built to accommodate the light rail corridor; Weber and Margaret are the only intermediate alternate routes.
 
Regional government says the extra lanes are needed to eliminate a bothersome bottleneck, ease rush-hour congestion, reduce collisions at Weber and Victoria streets, and handle traffic displaced from King Street if rapid transit consumes two lanes there.

Makes sense to me. If all the prerequisite projects for for the light rail line are done, perhaps this proposal will actually become reality!

I would really like to see K-W get a LRT line. Living in London I'm a wee bit jealous they got funding (proposed) and we didn't. Oh well, best of luck! If done you'll be smallest city in North America to get rapid transit, correct?
 
I'm fine with Weber Street widening. It is almost a pre-requisite for the construction of the multi-modal terminal and the LRT on King Street, as that will have to be closed to traffic as that is built to accommodate the light rail corridor; Weber and Margaret are the only intermediate alternate routes.

Exactly. And Park.

The LRT is still plodding along. Councillors supposedly got an earful at the doors about the "waste" of money, but there is still a group, led by Chairman Seiling, who really believe in transit and a more "urban" vision for the region and are pushing hard for it to be built. Another big issue, as is often the case, is the Cambridge nationalists. They're furious about such a big project that will only serve Kitchener-Waterloo in the short term.
 
Exactly. And Park.

The LRT is still plodding along. Councillors supposedly got an earful at the doors about the "waste" of money, but there is still a group, led by Chairman Seiling, who really believe in transit and a more "urban" vision for the region and are pushing hard for it to be built. Another big issue, as is often the case, is the Cambridge nationalists. They're furious about such a big project that will only serve Kitchener-Waterloo in the short term.

Somehow "nationalist" doesn't seem like the correct term. Although I get your meaning.
 
Are heritage properties going to be demolished for this project?

Back to the opening post/article...

Regional government has already purchased nine of the properties facing demolition. No designated historic homes are in the way of the wider road.

Of course, just because it isn't designated doesn't mean it isn't "heritage"--but I'm not the one to be judging existing ground-level conditions...
 
Do a Google street view, a bunch of properties on the west side will be facing demolition. There is a bulk of this type of early 20th century housing in this area, and the plazas being acquired won't be missed all that much.
 
Do a Google street view, a bunch of properties on the west side will be facing demolition. There is a bulk of this type of early 20th century housing in this area, and the plazas being acquired won't be missed all that much.

Thanks for the link. It doesn't look like anything architecturally significant will be lost, though buildings might be considered part of local heritage for other reasons. In the absence of any claims, though, I wish them all the best. May the widened road have buried hydro wires.
 

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