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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Printable Version

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RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Pheidippides - 12-11-2016

Another interesting utility box placement. This one is right at Famoso Pizza in uptown.

I took this one, but waited to see if it would be a flat lid or a vertical box:
   

It is indeed a vertical box that pushes the sidewalk to jog considerably:
   


This was taken at University and tracks, before the snow obviously, but the beautiful sod was wasted because the sidewalk and activation button are too far apart. By the time the snow gets piled it will completely inaccessible until the spring and then just a giant mud patch.
   


I really wish a pedestrian lens had been used more frequently for some of the finer details of this project.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Pheidippides - 12-11-2016

(12-06-2016, 10:16 PM)Markster Wrote: The crossing arms have been going in as well, and... well... some of them are in really awkward locations.

I'm interested in how the arm on the south east corner is going to end up. Last I checked it looked to be configured to potentially "trap" pedestrians between the barrier and the tracks.
   

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - danbrotherston - 12-11-2016

(12-11-2016, 09:24 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: This was taken at University and tracks, before the snow obviously, but the beautiful sod was wasted because the sidewalk and activation button are too far apart. By the time the snow gets piled it will completely inaccessible until the spring and then just a giant mud patch.



I really wish a pedestrian lens had been used more frequently for some of the finer details of this project.

This one really drove me nuts. The whole design of this intersection is just terrible, nowhere even remotely close to sufficient capacity for the number of pedestrians.

My only guess is the position of the pole is a gift from Grandlink to the region, because there is an intention to widen this crossing to make it a crossride. That being said, that still won't fix the awful awful design on the University side where everyone crammed onto a tiny sidewalk.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - timc - 12-12-2016

(12-11-2016, 09:24 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: This was taken at University and tracks, before the snow obviously, but the beautiful sod was wasted because the sidewalk and activation button are too far apart. By the time the snow gets piled it will completely inaccessible until the spring and then just a giant mud patch.

That one is especially glaring because the concrete on the other side of the crossing was done correctly, right up to, and partway around, the pole.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - tomh009 - 12-12-2016

At least this type of problem is easy to fix.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Markster - 12-12-2016

It's not so easy, because of the buried electrical box on the north side of University, that prohibits the trail running in any kind of "straight" . It will be an expensive fix, considering they just did work on that electrical stuff 2 years ago, and are unlikely to move it now.
The only plausible solution is to change the crossing of University to be not-exactly-perpendicular, and parallel the tracks. But in that case, I think there might be poles in the way.

It's all garbage, and no one cared about actual pedestrian/cyclist design.

Well, except for the engineer that drew the Duke St area. A+ work there.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 12-12-2016


Please retweet the hell out of this.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - nms - 12-12-2016

Now that we've had our first major snowfall of the season...
I understand that the LRVs are expected to be able to plow the right of way to keep it free of snow. In the hypothetical case that they can't perform this task adequately, who covers the cost of modifications?
For example, beefing up the nose or adding a plow; or in the worst case, acquiring a dedicated plow vehicle. I could see an argument for the cost begin covered by either the Region (since it didn't provide vehicles that can clear the tracks) or by GrandLinq (since they are contracted to provide the LRT service come snow or high water etc).

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 12-12-2016

No plough will be added to the trains.

A couple of trains will run overnight continuously in heavy snowfall (like last night) to keep snow from accumulating.

Worst case, I could see them buying a rail truck with a plough on the front. But definitely no plough is getting added to the trains. Can 100% guarantee that!

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Markster - 12-12-2016

I would expect that for the on-street sections, it wouldn't be unheard of to see a regular plow run through.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - KevinL - 12-12-2016

(12-12-2016, 01:56 PM)Canard Wrote: Worst case, I could see them buying a rail truck with a plough on the front.  

Most likely outcome in my mind.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - clasher - 12-12-2016

They could get a plow just like the GRR used to use on their lines, here's an example still in use.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - danbrotherston - 12-12-2016

(12-12-2016, 02:03 PM)Markster Wrote: I would expect that for the on-street sections, it wouldn't be unheard of to see a regular plow run through.

I doubt that Grandlinq would not okay this, it would pose a risk of damaging their very expensive infrastructure, you know, metal plow, rubber boots, etc.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - KevinL - 12-12-2016

Standard metal plows will be clearing the rails at intersections, though, so I'm not sure if there's really a distinction.

RE: ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit - Canard - 12-12-2016

Ha!

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/uptown-waterloo-shoppers-be-aware-on-street-parking-has-changed-1.3892411