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+--- Thread: General Road and Highway Discussion (/showthread.php?tid=335)
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RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - ijmorlan - 12-20-2020
(12-20-2020, 12:13 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: But in all cases, this roundabout is too large even for giant trucks.
Thanks for linking to the picture. Wow, it really is huge (may I use the word “cancerous”?)! I was interested to see that the Twitter comments include a variety of critical views.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Bob_McBob - 01-29-2021
There's a petition on change.org to reconfigure Keats Way for pedestrians and cyclists. Not sure the exact concept is practical but Keats Way is one of the most overbuild roads in the region, and I would love to see it used better.
https://www.change.org/p/waterloo-city-council-re-imagine-keats-way
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 01-30-2021
(01-29-2021, 10:41 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: There's a petition on change.org to reconfigure Keats Way for pedestrians and cyclists. Not sure the exact concept is practical but Keats Way is one of the most overbuild roads in the region, and I would love to see it used better.
https://www.change.org/p/waterloo-city-council-re-imagine-keats-way
Thanks for linking. Absolutely the design is an improvement. I will say there is some ironic comments though. The author is clearly afraid of being labeled anti car.
He isn't quite right though. The middle space is used for a turn lane. Moving to the profile he proposes would remove that. Now I fully support that idea. And I believe traffic on Keats way doesn't need turn lanes. But I know even in this forum that would not be accepted.
The author also seems to dislike crossing islands and feels narrowing the road would remove the need for them. I suspect many people in our region are poisoned against crossing islands by the utter garbage that gets built here. In fact a narrow two lane road still needs a crossing island.
While it's fun to read between the lines, I support the proposal, but given the portion of Keats with a center median I suspect some of it would have to wait for a complete rebuild. It could maybe be done from westmount to Fisher Hallman to start.
But I don't know when Keats way is scheduled for work and it's unlikely to happen before then.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - ijmorlan - 01-30-2021
(01-30-2021, 12:33 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:(01-29-2021, 10:41 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: There's a petition on change.org to reconfigure Keats Way for pedestrians and cyclists. Not sure the exact concept is practical but Keats Way is one of the most overbuild roads in the region, and I would love to see it used better.
https://www.change.org/p/waterloo-city-council-re-imagine-keats-way
Thanks for linking. Absolutely the design is an improvement. I will say there is some ironic comments though. The author is clearly afraid of being labeled anti car.
He isn't quite right though. The middle space is used for a turn lane. Moving to the profile he proposes would remove that. Now I fully support that idea. And I believe traffic on Keats way doesn't need turn lanes. But I know even in this forum that would not be accepted.
Actually even I might be OK with this on Keats Way. There is so little traffic that it’s hard to imagine a lack of turn lanes causing much trouble. I would probably do a traffic study to see if there are specific locations where turning traffic is higher and turn lanes would be a benefit. The fact that there are no traffic lights is part of this. Being held, along with a line of others, behind somebody turning left, followed by being held by a red light, especially when there is little to no cross traffic justifying the red, is very frustrating; pausing briefly while somebody makes a turn is another matter.
Quote:The author also seems to dislike crossing islands and feels narrowing the road would remove the need for them. I suspect many people in our region are poisoned against crossing islands by the utter garbage that gets built here. In fact a narrow two lane road still needs a crossing island.
While it's fun to read between the lines, I support the proposal, but given the portion of Keats with a center median I suspect some of it would have to wait for a complete rebuild. It could maybe be done from westmount to Fisher Hallman to start.
But I don't know when Keats way is scheduled for work and it's unlikely to happen before then.
Agreed about crossing islands. Imagine a 3-lane road with the outer 2 lanes for motor traffic and the middle lane not a lane but instead a continuous crossing island (maybe except for some judiciously placed turn lanes; or not, depending on circumstances). You couldn’t ask for an easier-to-cross road.
Years ago, Keats Way was simply a 2-lane road with the width of a 4-lane road. Then the City proposed a project to install a median and make various related changes, including narrowings and other traffic-calming measures (although presumably not speed bumps, inasmuch as it is main road for the area). As far as I knew, it was ready for construction; but then instead they just installed a couple of islands here and there and did the rest with paint. I would probably start by digging up the plans from that time and asking why they weren’t implemented.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - timc - 01-30-2021
I think Keats Way could benefit from the same treatment that Davenport Road received. They seem kind of similar to me.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jamincan - 01-30-2021
It reminds me of Lorraine in some ways a neighbourhood collector that was massively overbuilt. Lorraine's road diet could have been done better, but it's still an improvement over what was there before and shows that it doesn't necessarily result in worse traffic.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Chris - 02-03-2021
(01-30-2021, 12:33 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Thanks for linking. Absolutely the design is an improvement. I will say there is some ironic comments though. The author is clearly afraid of being labeled anti car.
I know the feeling.
Outside of WRC - any suggestion I make about helping people move about the region is met with derision if someone has to lift the throttle or heaven forbid, touch the brakes. I just want all road and trail users to have a pleasant experience and feel safe but too many just think "but that will add time to my drive". In reality it's often a handful of seconds that would be added to a drive of 10-15 mins in this region. (these figures are not researched in any way, they reflect my bias and my experience from when I used to leave the house)
As for Keats Way, no reason it can't be improved. As Jam in can mentioned Lorraine is better. I think Margaret is better (Victoria to Union). So baby steps. Hopefully we see progress as projects teach what works and what doesn't.
I still think Lancaster from Frederick to Victoria should be one-way (I don't know which direction though) with the other lane for bi-directional pedestrian traffic. Not a popular suggestion but that section of road just plain sucks for all users as it is now.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 02-03-2021
(02-03-2021, 06:13 PM)Chris Wrote:(01-30-2021, 12:33 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Thanks for linking. Absolutely the design is an improvement. I will say there is some ironic comments though. The author is clearly afraid of being labeled anti car.
I know the feeling.
Outside of WRC - any suggestion I make about helping people move about the region is met with derision if someone has to lift the throttle or heaven forbid, touch the brakes. I just want all road and trail users to have a pleasant experience and feel safe but too many just think "but that will add time to my drive". In reality it's often a handful of seconds that would be added to a drive of 10-15 mins in this region. (these figures are not researched in any way, they reflect my bias and my experience from when I used to leave the house)
As for Keats Way, no reason it can't be improved. As Jam in can mentioned Lorraine is better. I think Margaret is better (Victoria to Union). So baby steps. Hopefully we see progress as projects teach what works and what doesn't.
I still think Lancaster from Frederick to Victoria should be one-way (I don't know which direction though) with the other lane for bi-directional pedestrian traffic. Not a popular suggestion but that section of road just plain sucks for all users as it is now.
Yeah, I mean, I can sympathize, I'm sure ones circle of friends is different living in suburbia than in DTK as I do. And I'm quite certain that some of the people I know....umm...hold their tongue around me. That being said, I guess I am fortunate, most of my coworkers, although they almost all drive to work, still generally support improvements to other transportation options, and have a realistic view of the difficulty of driving in the city.
Keats Way could definitely be improved. I don't live there, but I do cycle there, for me, it's not a high priority for change, it's a road that is already above average in cycle friendliness for the city. There is probably an argument due to the multiple schools on it that it should be a higher priority, but either way, it could be much better. I will say the presence of the schools means that at certain times of the day, selfish assholes who happen to have children endanger me, and any child who wants to cycle to school by illegally parking in the bike lane, and nobody anywhere will do anything about this.
I actually find Keats Way better than Margaret or Lorraine (outside of school hours at least) because it does not have parking or driveways. I feel that both of those increase the risk and danger for cyclists, and certainly add to my discomfort while cycling. But that's obviously a personal opinion.
I do agree for Lancaster, although I'm open to seeing how Lancaster improves with the changes proposed, I suspect it could be substantially better. I also think the biggest problem with Lancaster at the moment is the Lancaster and Frederick (and also Victoria) intersections. At least for Frederick, I have a proposed improvement here.
https://betterbenton.netlify.app/
I actually put this together last year, long before the Keats Way proposal, so it's my own laziness that has resulted in me being pre-empted, but I would like to fix up my few links and create the change.org petition then I will push it publicly this weekend.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Bjays93 - 02-04-2021
Sorry to change the subject, but it appears that all the shrubs, as well as trees and other greenery has been cleared on the westbound side of the 401 between king and homer Watson. Any particular reason for this?
If not, I'm not a huge fan of randomly knocking down relatively mature trees.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - gomesjustin - 02-04-2021
MTO is replacing the 401 Grand River Bridges and rehabilitating the King St Overpass, so most likely for that?
I honestly can’t remember when it was supposed to begin, but it might be on their webpage here: https://hwy401grandriverbridges.ca/
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Bjays93 - 02-05-2021
(02-04-2021, 02:44 PM)gomesjustin Wrote: MTO is replacing the 401 Grand River Bridges and rehabilitating the King St Overpass, so most likely for that?Thx for this. Idk why they wouldnt just replace the bridges when they inevitably have to widen this stretch of highway but alas what do I know
I honestly can’t remember when it was supposed to begin, but it might be on their webpage here: https://hwy401grandriverbridges.ca/
Edit: looks like they are widening here. For some reason I thought that was farther out. They really need to have the highway 8 ramps have access to both westbound and eastbound. That's all I really want to see
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Rainrider22 - 02-05-2021
(02-05-2021, 02:32 AM)Bjays93 Wrote:Agreed(02-04-2021, 02:44 PM)gomesjustin Wrote: MTO is replacing the 401 Grand River Bridges and rehabilitating the King St Overpass, so most likely for that?Thx for this. Idk why they wouldnt just replace the bridges when they inevitably have to widen this stretch of highway but alas what do I know
I honestly can’t remember when it was supposed to begin, but it might be on their webpage here: https://hwy401grandriverbridges.ca/
Edit: looks like they are widening here. For some reason I thought that was farther out. They really need to have the highway 8 ramps have access to both westbound and eastbound. That's all I really want to see
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jeffster - 02-06-2021
(02-05-2021, 02:32 AM)Bjays93 Wrote: Edit: looks like they are widening here. For some reason I thought that was farther out. They really need to have the highway 8 ramps have access to both westbound and eastbound. That's all I really want to see
Yeah, this is what really needs to be done. I imagine it would be very expensive for such an undertaking though.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Bjays93 - 02-06-2021
(02-06-2021, 11:25 AM)jeffster Wrote:I mean didnt they have to redo the existing flyovers when they widened the highway. I understand that its tricky for westbound becasue of the location of king street and then the river right after but it's not like they havent already rebuilt the flyovers before.(02-05-2021, 02:32 AM)Bjays93 Wrote: Edit: looks like they are widening here. For some reason I thought that was farther out. They really need to have the highway 8 ramps have access to both westbound and eastbound. That's all I really want to see
Yeah, this is what really needs to be done. I imagine it would be very expensive for such an undertaking though.
I honestly dont even feel they need to widen this stretch at this point in time (as someone who drives between king and homer Watson ever day) but having westbound access would significantly improve traffic flow and drastically reduce congestion on king street which is way overcrowded and in desperate need of roadwork itself.
RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jamincan - 02-06-2021
I recall reading that the bridges needed to be rebuilt anyway, so they will be building a wider structure to accommodate the future widening to Homer Watson, but it will remain with the current lane configuration for the time being. Does that ring a bell with anyone else?