General Road and Highway Discussion - Printable Version +- Waterloo Region Connected (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com) +-- Forum: Waterloo Region Works (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=14) +--- Forum: Transportation and Infrastructure (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25) +--- Thread: General Road and Highway Discussion (/showthread.php?tid=335) Pages:
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RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - ijmorlan - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 06:03 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Nah, don't worry, they do accomplish that, they absolutely have turn lanes lol. More lanes is always better or so the Regional engineering mantra goes. Not always. There are lots of places around the Region where there are 4 lane roads without turn lanes; many intersections would operate more smoothly if they were 2 lanes plus turn lanes than the way they actually are. I agree they want more lanes than are appropriate; I even agree that there is a pro-motor-vehicle bias; but it’s not a very smart pro-motor-vehicle bias. Even if one takes the position that motor vehicles must move smoothly they’re not doing a very good job of spending the road money. Quote:That being said, I'll give them credit, bus bays are bad for transit riders because buses are often delayed getting into traffic, and our regional engineers don't seem keen on implementing those. But I can only imagine it's because of institutional inertia, not because of any thoughtful consideration of the situation...or at least, that's what I assume based on all their other decisions that seem rooted in inertia. Not sure how far back your memory of the Region goes, but some years ago they removed a number of bus bays. For example, there used to be one on King northbound at the highway interchange / Manulife entrance. I remember that they specifically adopted a policy of removing them because of the trouble buses had getting back into traffic. So at this point it’s institutional inertia, but it was deliberately adopted as an intentional policy at one time. RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - danbrotherston - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 06:39 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(09-06-2021, 06:03 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Nah, don't worry, they do accomplish that, they absolutely have turn lanes lol. More lanes is always better or so the Regional engineering mantra goes. Yes, but on the expanded Highland Rd., the road we were speaking about, DOES have turn lanes at every intersection. And yes, it's frustrating how our regional engineers aren't even good at building roads for cars. That was one of the more shocking realizations. And I think it comes from a fear of actually implementing and enforcing restrictions. Like in many things, our "freedom" is self defeating. (09-06-2021, 06:39 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:Quote:That being said, I'll give them credit, bus bays are bad for transit riders because buses are often delayed getting into traffic, and our regional engineers don't seem keen on implementing those. But I can only imagine it's because of institutional inertia, not because of any thoughtful consideration of the situation...or at least, that's what I assume based on all their other decisions that seem rooted in inertia. I do remember the one at King and Manulife so I know they used to exist, but I don't think they were particularly ubiquitous. At least as long as I've been in the region, they've had a policy of no bus bays. And yes, all their policies were at one point an intentional policy. And their policies do change...but unreasonably slowly. Basically a superficial change, which has zero impact on any traffic operations, and merely serves to legalize an existing practice and one that matches provincial standards (e.g., marking a crossride on an intersection with a MUT) might take 5 years or more for regional staff to accept. How is that at all a reasonable timeframe. And think about how long it will take them to make real changes which actually impact traffic operations. RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - tomh009 - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 06:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(09-06-2021, 06:17 PM)jeffster Wrote: I don't think it was widened, as it has always been 2 lanes each way, or are you referring to road width? The did change the rail guards though. Still too many people zipping down that stretch way too fast. When you're crossing lanes (especially the yellow lane), you're moving too fast. I think Weber was widened in the late 1960s -- before my time. Maybe Panamaniac will remember that far back? RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - jamincan - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 06:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(09-06-2021, 06:17 PM)jeffster Wrote: I don't think it was widened, as it has always been 2 lanes each way, or are you referring to road width? The did change the rail guards though. Still too many people zipping down that stretch way too fast. When you're crossing lanes (especially the yellow lane), you're moving too fast. I guess my memory is failing me, because I seem to recall that that section of Weber near Simeon was 2 lanes not too long ago. On reflection, I think they widened it due to anticipated traffic related to ION construction? Edit: I just checked, and my memory is definitely failing me - Region GIS shows it at 4-lanes from 2000 onward (no air photos from earlier). RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - panamaniac - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 07:02 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(09-06-2021, 06:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I mean, it wasn't widened in this most recent reconstruction, I assume Jaminican was referring to whenever in the past it was widened...it certainly hasn't always been 4 lanes. I wish I could say I didn’t, but in fact I remember Weber when it was two lanes and lined with enormous trees (that had left the sidewalks looking like the rocky road to Dublin). As a main traffic spine in KW, the widening never seemed excessive to me. RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - danbrotherston - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 07:32 PM)jamincan Wrote:(09-06-2021, 06:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I mean, it wasn't widened in this most recent reconstruction, I assume Jaminican was referring to whenever in the past it was widened...it certainly hasn't always been 4 lanes. AFAIK the widening happened from Victoria St. northwards to somewhere south of Union St. And what a terrible job they did of it, that neighbourhood is completely cut off from the other half, and the Victoria/Weber intersection is a danger to everyone. And yeah, it has a MUT along side...but whoever built it, well, the conversation went "What's a MUT"..."I dunno...says here 3 meters wide"..."3 meter wide sidewalk, done and done." It took years just for them to acquiesce to putting up signage. (09-06-2021, 07:38 PM)panamaniac Wrote:(09-06-2021, 07:02 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I think Weber was widened in the late 1960s -- before my time. Maybe Panamaniac will remember that far back? But it's not a main traffic spine, it's a residential street. That's the problem. As a result it functions very poorly at all of its purposes. RE: Post your pictures of Waterloo Region! - ac3r - 09-06-2021 (09-06-2021, 12:45 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: That being said, it’s OK if a certain amount of traffic has to wait for a bus once in a while. If they want to reduce delays to non-transit traffic, they should fix some of the signals on the LRT system where pedestrian and/or motor traffic is held even when there is no conflict with the LRT (King/Conestogo, King/Northfield, Erb/Caroline, King/Allen, King/Moore, King/Francis, Charles/Victoria, Charles/Benton, Duke/Frederick, Charles/Borden, Charles/Ottawa, Ottawa/Mill; wow, more than I realized when I started typing this). It’s just a pure deadweight loss, with no benefit to transit whatsoever. This would be helpful. It drives me crazy when I'm on the LRT and it stops for absolutely no reason. It's like...did you people even try? It's a mess. They still haven't got the train to speed up at Hayward Ave either, even though they said at some point that they think they could make some adjustments to speed it up. The thing slows down to something like 15 to 5 km/h to make those turns and it holds up traffic on Hayward Ave for at least 2+ minutes straight. I don't really get why...it can't be the grade of the hill because it's not that steep. The turns are sharp, but the LRV should be able to make them at a faster speed than that. Like, Phase 2 has elevated sections with much steeper grades and the train will easily be able to ride on them without slowing down so much. Looks like we derailed the thread a bit however. RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - timio - 09-26-2021 Does anyone know what's happening on Blenheim Road (comes from Galt and turns into Roseville Road) at the CPR tracks? There's a finished road through the field that stops just shy of the existing road on each end. From the angle, it almost looks like a new alignment? RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - timio - 09-27-2021 (09-26-2021, 09:13 PM)timio Wrote: Does anyone know what's happening on Blenheim Road (comes from Galt and turns into Roseville Road) at the CPR tracks? There's a finished road through the field that stops just shy of the existing road on each end. From the angle, it almost looks like a new alignment? Answered my own question: https://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/5151629-proposal-to-realign-blenheim-road-for-development-comes-under-fire/ RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - nms - 09-28-2021 This part was interesting: Quote:The association contends realignment would impact the “identified scenic route” on Roseville Road. I wonder what other "heritage roads" exist in the Region? Huron Road might be one as it was a pioneer rural route west, but I'm not sure how much of the original vistas still exist. RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - timio - 09-28-2021 Quote:Extremely Scenic https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/exploring-the-region/resources/Documents/Scenic-Roads-and-Special-Character-Streets-Resource-document-access.pdf (oage 27) RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - ijmorlan - 09-28-2021 (09-28-2021, 08:44 PM)nms Wrote: I wonder what other "heritage roads" exist in the Region? Huron Road might be one as it was a pioneer rural route west, but I'm not sure how much of the original vistas still exist. Depends on exactly what you’re looking for. Examples that might count include:
There are lots of interesting bits of road whose interest traces back to a long-changed road layout. RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - jamincan - 09-30-2021 (09-28-2021, 10:49 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:Now this one is a surprise, but is pretty clear when you look for it. RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - Bob_McBob - 10-04-2021 I read that September 23 news release from the region about ASE being active with great skepticism given I had driven past one of the cameras the night before and it was clearly not active. 1 1/2 weeks later I can confirm both the Winterbourne and Keats Way cameras still have metal plates covering their camera windows and no signage indicating an active camera, and I'd imagine the same goes for many of the 8 current installations. The only camera I know is active is the one on Westmount by Laurentian Senior Public School. Has anyone else checked out nearby cameras recently? RE: General Road and Highway Discussion - danbrotherston - 10-04-2021 (10-04-2021, 01:42 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: I read that September 23 news release from the region about ASE being active with great skepticism given I had driven past one of the cameras the night before and it was clearly not active. 1 1/2 weeks later I can confirm both the Winterbourne and Keats Way cameras still have metal plates covering their camera windows and no signage indicating an active camera, and I'd imagine the same goes for many of the 8 current installations. The only camera I know is active is the one on Westmount by Laurentian Senior Public School. Has anyone else checked out nearby cameras recently? I'm really curious on who is dragging their feet here. It feels like staff seem to get a significant amount of leeway from council when it comes to implementing their policy...policies they disagree with get delayed and done poorly. If I was on council, I don't think I'd be terribly polite about that kind of thing. |