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09-29-2016, 06:18 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-29-2016, 06:19 AM by Canard.)
You're right, it was more like 2007. I guarantee my memory is worse than yours! I guess I extended the year-and-a-half delay moving in to two-and-a-half. 
Has anyone here brought up the new discovery of no left turns onto Victoria, yet? I mean, I get why (single lane - can't have 1 car turning left hold everybody up), but... yeah.
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I think it's the sort of thing that most people will easily route around using Park, Charles, Weber, Duke, Francis, Wellington and so on. Compliance might be a minor issue, but provided most people follow the rules, it should keep things moving well.
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Victoria EB to King NB: everything north of Agnes (King Edward School) would be roughly the same speed or faster via Park. Slight delays for intermediate locations by taking Park & Agnes or Duke to Wellington.
Victoria WB to King SB: everything south of Water is faster via Water. Charles or Duke and Francis are comparably fast alternates for business between Victoria and Water.
King NB to Victoria WB: Water or Francis and Joseph or Charles. Similar distance, but with two left turns, strictly slower. Most people will want to stick to Charles over King heading NB anyway, so I think the people inconvenienced in this case would be minimal.
King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.
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There definitely were no painted marks indicating no left turns, are those signs on the traffic lights there? Plenty of cars, for sure, making left turns.
CTV was onsite until 11:45pm at least. Opening happened probably by 7 or 7:30pm. Crews are doing spot work this morning, looks like clearing out asphalt(?) from the manhole seams.
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It's pretty awesome. I had to drive though this morning again just for fun! Definitely a "pinch me!" moment now that it's finally open.
It's curious; the left lane of Westbound Victoria has a "Left turn only" arrow painted on it fairly far back. It's light - it almost looks "left over" from before but I can't/couldn't figure it out in the fraction of a second I noticed it as I drove through.
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(09-29-2016, 08:31 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: There definitely were no painted marks indicating no left turns, are those signs on the traffic lights there? Plenty of cars, for sure, making left turns.
CTV was onsite until 11:45pm at least. Opening happened probably by 7 or 7:30pm. Crews are doing spot work this morning, looks like clearing out asphalt(?) from the manhole seams.
Given there's no through traffic, there is no reason to restrict turns now, I would hope they start restricting once King opens.
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Just got confirmation there will be No lefts permitted in any direction at King/Victoria. Wow.
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(09-29-2016, 09:58 AM)Canard Wrote: Just got confirmation there will be No lefts permitted in any direction at King/Victoria. Wow.
That's what is shown in the functional design plan.
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Right. Sorry - parallel discussion on Facebook and multiple parties are confused. Was just clarifying the official word I have received.
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The support arms for the wires are now up along Caroline.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(09-29-2016, 07:52 AM)jamincan Wrote: King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.
Especially with this area, I hope that the City of Kitchener eventually takes some action to address rat running. Supposedly, Mount Hope is a "Traffic-Calmed Neighbourhood," but besides the few speed humps on Moore (designed to protect boneheaded motorists who might otherwise take the curve too fast for their own good, and not to protect other users), it's hard to tell. With the King closures, Shanley has become even worse in terms of fast-moving traffic, and residents of Louisa attest that their street is suffering, too. If Wellington to Duke is the logical alternative if you need to get east of King when going south (and it is), a lot of motorists will continue to be tempted to take Shanley or Louisa instead.
Agnes deserves some calming, too, if it's going to continue to be the diversion for traffic needing to get northbound on King from eastbound Victoria. It's entirely residential and adjacent to an elementary school. I'm not saying it's not part of the road network, but it's not suited to the type of driving a lot of people do when cutting through a neighbourhood on the way to somewhere else.
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(09-29-2016, 07:52 AM)jamincan Wrote: Victoria EB to King NB: everything north of Agnes (King Edward School) would be roughly the same speed or faster via Park. Slight delays for intermediate locations by taking Park & Agnes or Duke to Wellington.
Victoria WB to King SB: everything south of Water is faster via Water. Charles or Duke and Francis are comparably fast alternates for business between Victoria and Water.
King NB to Victoria WB: Water or Francis and Joseph or Charles. Similar distance, but with two left turns, strictly slower. Most people will want to stick to Charles over King heading NB anyway, so I think the people inconvenienced in this case would be minimal.
King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.
That's a pretty good analysis of the situation.
Several of the turns aren't really necessary, as there are plenty of alternatives, several of which are simply better in the first place.
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Is it just me or is anyone else not pleased with the amount of new grass strips being added to the streetscape? I was expecting an extra wide sidewalk (or any hardscape really, i thought they would use the black concrete 'brick' thing they've used in other parts) close to King/Victoria, along Victoria... but that whole stretch is now lined with sod - odd choice for what is expected to be the densest urban hub in the Region.
Don't get me wrong, I like how grass looks, and it's nice to have some permeable surfaces in an otherwise barren Downtown, however, I associate grass boulevards with a suburban urban morphology, it just doesn't fit here. Same with Uptown from Allen to William, it just makes no sense to me. Opinions? I really think there was no thought put into the streetscape for the project... we are getting kilometres of new sidewalks and just seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity to create really great streetscapes.
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(09-29-2016, 07:52 AM)jamincan Wrote: Victoria EB to King NB: everything north of Agnes (King Edward School) would be roughly the same speed or faster via Park. Slight delays for intermediate locations by taking Park & Agnes or Duke to Wellington.
Victoria WB to King SB: everything south of Water is faster via Water. Charles or Duke and Francis are comparably fast alternates for business between Victoria and Water.
King NB to Victoria WB: Water or Francis and Joseph or Charles. Similar distance, but with two left turns, strictly slower. Most people will want to stick to Charles over King heading NB anyway, so I think the people inconvenienced in this case would be minimal.
King SB to Victoria EB: Probably the worst of the bunch. Diversions would probably end up via Wellington and Weber or otherwise Water. Neither option is great. I expect you'll see a lot of illegal turns here.
This took me a minute to figure out, it's like a brain teaser. Victoria North and South meet King West here so I had to do some mental gymnastics to picture each scenario. 
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(09-29-2016, 12:13 PM)urbd Wrote: Is it just me or is anyone else not pleased with the amount of new grass strips being added to the streetscape? I was expecting an extra wide sidewalk (or any hardscape really, i thought they would use the black concrete 'brick' thing they've used in other parts) close to King/Victoria, along Victoria... but that whole stretch is now lined with sod - odd choice for what is expected to be the densest urban hub in the Region.
I guess you can't please everyone, but - you're kidding, right?  I think it looks absolutely glorious and I welcome any and all green that can be added to the urban landscape. Francis between King and Duke, and all of Borden look a kajillion times better than they used to.
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