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

[timc]

Asked what accounts for the discrepancy in the timeline, Fisken said it's a balancing act.

"Do we give people an extremely long projection, trying to take into consideration everything we might find when we open up a road, or do we give a reasonable expectation and then re-communicate when we find something that's changed?" she said.

So, which one is this nine month projection? Extremely long or reasonable?

 

[TOareaFan]

^rephrased another way, that quote could be interpreted as "do we give them a low ball estimate of the closure to get the project approved easier and then surprise the residents businesses later with what we actually need?"

 

[mdrejhon]

Railway crossings (with or without gates) are far superior to conventional intersections.
- They guarantee transit priority
- They respond more quickly because pedestrian clearance calculations are less generous.
- They are safer because of the more prominent barriers to crossing, especially if there are gates
- They don't take any more time away from the street than a normal intersection

Agree, but let's not repeat the Edmonton mistakes, where the gates are creating more anti-LRT sentiment because the gates are staying down for 15 minutes. That's my concern - stalling LRT progress for other Ontario cities, if there are screwups like that. Know what I mean?

 

[mdrejhon]

You bet. Start in the North, work your way South.

• Assuming you're coming from Ottawa, take 401, exit 278, North Highway 8, then stay in the right 2 lanes up 85 toward St Jacobs (the "Right" side of the Y of the Conestoga Parkway).
• Exit at King and turn right. This will take you toward Conestoga Mall - your first stop. This is the Northern terminus of the line, and they've started working on the station a bit here (ground prep).
• Keep going North, turn Left on Northfield. This whole stretch is dug up (down to 1 lane in each direction), no tracks yet, but soon.
• Turn Left on Parkside. Pull into any of the parking lots along here (World Gym) and you're right next to the Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility.
• I recommend parking as close as you can to Weber and then walking up over the Overpass/Bridge over the tracks. A fantastic vantage point for the whole OMSF. If you keep walking and turn left on Dutton Drive, you can get right up to the entrance of the OMSF.
• Get back onto Parkside and turn left (South). Cross Weber and at the next 4-way Stop, turn left behind Albert McCormic Arena. You can park there and take a peek at the tracks running there.
• Keep going South on Parkside. You'll cross Bearanger, and enter David Johnston Research and Technology Park. At the First roundabout, exit left (270 degrees). At the second roundabout, exit 270 degrees and the first parking lot on your right is free on weekends. Park here and follow the trail next to the tracks North/South a bit. If you head North, after about 5 minutes you can check out the gauntlet track and platform at R&T Park. Head south and you'll walk toward University of Waterloo. No parking there for free so best to just walk this part if you can.
• When you get tired keep heading South on Parkside and head through University of Waterloo (cross Columbia). Hang to the left of the ring road, and you'll drive right past the UoW station.
• Keep heading South and the road crosses University Ave and becomes Seagram. It curves around to the right, and right when you cross the tracks you can park in the lot on your right, and walk this part of the route. Waterloo Park is great.
• When you exit that parking lot, turn right on Seagram, then at the light you have to turn Right onto Erb which is a 4-lane wide 1-way road. Head straight through (it becomes Caroline) and park in the lot on your left (Waterloo Town Square) to explore this part of the line (Caroline).
• At this point I would recommend going down Park St. since King is all closed up with so much work. A walk up and down King through "midtown" might be nice.
• Alternatively keep driving down Park and you'll cross Victoria... keep going straight through. You'll drive through Victoria Park.
• At the 4-way stop on the far side, keep going straight. Keep going straight through Queen, then the next turn is Left on Benton. Park on the right side of the road next to the Arrow lofts.
• Walk up the hill and you'll be at Benton/Charles. Really neat crossing here. Go up the elevator in the Benton St. Parking Garage to the roof for a great vantage point North/South.
• Now, if you're particularly adventerous, walk North (left) for a while and you can see all the new trackwork right up to Manulife. You can't miss the huge Dome going up at King/Victoria - future site of the transit hub, too.
• Heading South from Benton/Charles you can walk the whole line all the way to Borden.
• I'd recommend exploring a bit here then hopping back in your car and driving down either Courtland (Park becomes Courtland) or pop up Benton and turn Right (South) on Charles. It should be open...
• Park somewhere on Borden and you can walk along there too to explore.
• There isn't too much going on much past here. Courtland gets all messed up and is closed entirely further up for some ground prep work.
• Nothing really going on at Fairview Mall.

See if this makes sense while following along in Google Maps - I can try and draw up a map if it would help you out!

One or more of our fellow Hamilton LRT advocates would love to join a future tour group; do you know of any iON LRT construction tours planned?

 

[Duck]

It's not a tour, that's just my "Saturday morning picture-taking drive"

I've had some talks with the team about an OMSF tour when possible; it is in the works. Once I know dates I'll let you know.

Re: Edmonton/NAIT... That's a one-off mistake that got highly publicized. Almost every LRT system in the US (and some in Canada, just not Toronto) have crossing gates which function perfectly. It's not something weird or new to be scared of.

 

[reaperexpress]

Agree, but let's not repeat the Edmonton mistakes, where the gates are creating more anti-LRT sentiment because the gates are staying down for 15 minutes. That's my concern - stalling LRT progress for other Ontario cities, if there are screwups like that. Know what I mean?

That's an absurd justification for discounting an entire technology. We have a colossal number of railway crossing gates in Ontario already, if this were actually an inherent issue, we would know by now.

And besides, I also know of instances when traffic signals have glitched out and gotten stuck for 15 minutes too.

 

[Duck]

Crews continue track installation heading South on Charles from Water St., toward the Benton/Charles intersection (which is complete).

The large dome is ready to be covered early next week at Victoria/King, to facilitate all-weather construction of the grade separation project here.

Another downtown Kitchener intersection, Queen/Charles, is torn up with a lot of deep underground work going on.

Meanwhile at the OMSF, hydro crews were on site today hooking up some power lines.

 

[Duck]

More of embedded track construction along Charles. These photos are from in front of our existing GRT (city bus) terminal, which will eventually be replaced with a new facility at King/Victoria, about 500 m away,

These large orange tents are built over the areas where they're pouring the concrete over the embedded track, so they can keep it warm while it cures.

At the other end of Kitchener, crews returned on Bordon Ave. to keep going with the embedded track here.

...and the best part: The very first final traffic signal is up! Complete with "Tram" light!

 

[crs1026]

I wonder if the dome is a 'lesson learned' from the West Toronto project. If so, the weather this year has been just fickle enough to not bury the excavation in ice, as happened at the Junction.

- Paul

 

[P0per]

I wonder if the dome is a 'lesson learned' from the West Toronto project. If so, the weather this year has been just fickle enough to not bury the excavation in ice, as happened at the Junction.
- Paul

The dome is a contingency measure. The King St. grade separation is already on the critical path to project completion and it is behind schedule, apparently due to complicated negotiations with CN/GEXR. The equivalent project on Weber St. took 18 months, and work started in earnest here in the Fall of 2015. Good chance the rest of the line will be ready for commissioning and testing before this is complete, but maybe the additional progress possible once the dome is in place can remedy the situation.

 

[ottbike]

Thanks for all the tour advice!

It is interesting to see a transit "cigar" signal independent from any other signal (usually it is added above a red light). This may be the first application of an independent "cigar" signal in Ontario.

 

[ottbike]

If you're interested in a day trip, and don't mind a late start to your day, you can ride VIA Train 85 - you'll get into Kitchener around 12:30. It's an interesting trip, and even at this time of year, you'll get 5-6 hours of daylight, enough to tour the construction.

Not bad:

 

[Hopkins123]

Does GO Transit have an express bus link between Union Stn and K-W? If not, there should be something that runs via Hwy 401 only stopping at Aberfoyle, then on to Fairview Park Mall, Charles St Terminal, U Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier.

 

[P0per]

Does GO Transit have an express bus link between Union Stn and K-W? If not, there should be something that runs via Hwy 401 only stopping at Aberfoyle, then on to Fairview Park Mall, Charles St Terminal, U Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier.

Only from Square One or York University.

 

[Allandale25]

Thanks for all the tour advice!

It is interesting to see a transit "cigar" signal independent from any other signal (usually it is added above a red light). This may be the first application of an independent "cigar" signal in Ontario.

They are used at Spadina and Adelaide for the 510 to make a right hand turn. I also believe they are used in one section on Queen's Quay where the streetcar goes from centre running to running on the south side.