Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

[Markster]

How about them closures.

mid-March: Quiet Place, Bearinger, Columbia West, University Ring Road, University and Seagram. [...] road crossings will be closed for up to two weeks at a time.
March: King, from Union to Wellington, will be closed to through traffic
mid-April: King, from Moore to Victoria, will be closed to all traffic for up to 18 months
March 23: Charles, from Victoria to Borden, will be closed to through traffic
March 30: Charles, from Victoria to Benton, will be closed to through traffic

It's going to be quite the construction-pocalypse this summer!

 

[nfitz]

It's going to be quite the construction-pocalypse this summer!

I hadn't realised there was that much relocation of services.

It will be interesting to see what unexpected issues they hit in such old parts of the cities. Shades of Leslie ...

 

[P0per]

This is the culvert prior to being upgraded for the LRT.

(Apologies for the bad panorama stitch... https://plus.google.com/photos/108353187291997763887/albums/6096119272588709633/6126977378137740546?pid=6126977378137740546&oid=108353187291997763887)

A single culvert? Hopefully their engineers calculated that will suffice. It looks pretty near capacity in the photo. And many of us are aware of the potential for not planning for extremes:

View attachment 42914

 

[ShonTron]

How about them closures.

It's going to be quite the construction-pocalypse this summer!

This is why Weber Street was widened to 4 lanes and the grade crossing built there first. A number of 19th and early 20th century houses and a plaza had to be demolished to do that work.

 

[muller877]

How about them closures.



It's going to be quite the construction-pocalypse this summer!

Hmmm...a much more complex construction job then either St Clair or Queens Quay. And more utility companies to deal with (multiple cities). Let me guess which one comes in on budget, on time and not blaming another level of government (oh...and I forgot St Clair....straighter).

The only major shut-down is at the train tracks while the roads will have local access most of the time.

I hope the TTC takes notes! Or city hall realizes the issues at TTC after KW shows Toronto how to manage a construction project.

...I hope I don't have to eat crow

 

[nfitz]

This is the culvert prior to being upgraded for the LRT.

Thanks! That's why I'm so surprised the new one is so big. It's even smaller than I remembered!

This is why Weber Street was widened to 4 lanes and the grade crossing built there first. A number of 19th and early 20th century houses and a plaza had to be demolished to do that work.

Oh, is that done now? I'll have to drive up Weber one day instead of taking the Conestoga.

I seem to recall 30 years ago commenting to some locals that it would useful if Weber was 4 lanes, and no one seemed to think there was the political will to ever let that happen. And I'm surprised - I don't recall traffic ever being that bad on Weber where it was 2 lanes - but it might be a decade since I drove it in rush-hour. In comparison it was really bad on Erb before it was widened to 4 lanes back in ... 1987 or so ... I used to have fun cycling Erb back then ... much faster than driving in rush hour!

 

[44 North]

This is the culvert prior to being upgraded for the LRT.

Thanks for this. Yeah, it’s clearly a slow-moving trickle of a creek, and fitting of the descriptor given earlier of a ditch. Although I believe it does have a name (from the construction pages it says "Cedar Creek"). I definitely wasn’t thinking straight when I wrote that. For some reason I thought the new culvert looked knee-high...which would probably still be ample. don't drink and drivel

 

[timio]

Construction started in earnest on King Street and Charles Street last Monday. There's an article in The Record about how they're finding infrastructure from the streetcar system that ran up until the 1950's as they're digging up the road.

 

[ShonTron]

The Kitchener-Waterloo Railway streetcar service ended in December 1946, (trolley buses took over until 1973), though the Grand River Railway/Lake Erie & Northern electric interurban service lasted until 1955, but operated mostly off-street between South Kitchener (the station is now the Rockaway Seniors Centre) and Galt, Brantford and Port Dover.

 

[BMO]

How can the flow of water in a small drainage ditch north of Bearinger and east of Parkside be the same flow in Laurel Creek in Waterloo Park?

This isn't even part of the Laurel Creek watershed north of Waterloo Park. The water here doesn't join Laurel Creek until just west of the waste water treatment plant near University and the Conestoga Expressway.

I don't think this is the creek you think it is! Sure, there's always a chance ... I'm familiar with the concept .. heck, I even taught those courses when I was a grad student! Judging by the size of that thing, I'd think that not only would it meet a 100-year flood, it would also meet the regional storm!

And of course they've considered it ... do we ask if anyone has considered the foundation to make sure the building sinks, whenever someone posts a photo of a new condo dig?

You're right, I thought I got confused with the Albert Mcormick Arena, and thought it was the Waterloo Recreation Centre Arena, right across from it it has a rail overpass much like this for the LRT, the images looked similar.

 

[Duck]

Here are a couple of photos from this weekend of King Street. Note the old wooden railway ties, from the former Grand River Railway!

 

[TOareaFan]

That first pic is exceptional! I would call it "a city in transition"....got old railway, cars and future LRT all in a single shot....nice work!

 

[mpd618]

Note the old wooden railway ties, from the former Grand River Railway!

Minor correction: this would have been the Kitchener-Waterloo Street Railway. The Grand River Railway took the route of what's now the Iron Horse Trail. (The former was a frequent urban streetcar, the latter was an interurban.)

 

[Duck]

Vertical construction at the OSMF:

Concrete track tie storage at David Johnston R&T Park, including first small section of track, likely for crew training:

 

[ShonTron]

Thanks for all the updates, Duck!