ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

1/1 - Thursday, April 13, 2017

   
Another vibrant ceramic tile anchor wall - Conestoga, the Northern terminus of the line.

   
Waterloo Town Square station should be popping up soon; the anchor wall armature has been installed.

   
I missed seeing it by a few hours, but here's the solid blue Grand River Hospital anchor wall. They boarded it up earlier in the afternoon.

   
Almost there.

[Canard]

...and I'll put this in its own post, for discussion purposes:

   

What are our thoughts on this?

On Tuesday, I actually saw at one point no less than 6 people taking a stroll through here, under the Grade Separation - still very much a closed, active construction site with various hazards.

It's never officially been said that it's "open", so I'm curious what others are thinking, here. I've reached out to GrandLinq for an official response. As someone who strictly abides by the rules, I can't bring myself to go through just yet, as much as I would like to.

[panamaniac]

Randoms:  When is the King St underpass expected to re-open (officially)?

When are the art installations expected to be in place?  Some of them will be built at/into the station and I imagine they'll take a bit of time.

The Conestoga anchor wall is the first one that I don't like.  In the above photo, at least, the colours strike me as a bit "cheap" looking.

[plam]

What are our thoughts on this?

On Tuesday, I actually saw at one point no less than 6 people taking a stroll through here, under the Grade Separation - still very much a closed, active construction site with various hazards.

It's never officially been said that it's "open", so I'm curious what others are thinking, here.  I've reached out to GrandLinq for an official response.  As someone who strictly abides by the rules, I can't bring myself to go through just yet, as much as I would like to.

I've thought about it (because the detour is annoying) but I haven't actually gone through yet; right now, it does feel like a bit more of a construction site than something that one should be going through.

[Canard]

Randoms:  When is the King St underpass expected to re-open (officially)?

When the asphalt plants re-open for the year and they can pave. They're doing everything to get the whole area as complete as possible, so that paving is the only thing left to do as soon as they reopen.

When are the art installations expected to be in place?  Some of them will be built at/into the station and I imagine they'll take a bit of time.

Most of them will be in place by the time the system opens in early 2018. I would expect most of the installation will begin sometime in the fall.

I've reached out to GrandLinq for an official response.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain">@Canardiain</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Grandlinq">@Grandlinq</a> Hi Iain. This area is still closed. Thanks for the heads-up.</p>&mdash; ION (@rideIONrt) <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/852872375557398529">April 14, 2017</a></blockquote>

[Section ThirtyOne]

The Conestoga anchor wall is the first one that I don't like.  In the above photo, at least, the colours strike me as a bit "cheap" looking.

It is much better in person, I think you might change your mind. The vibrant colours tie the station in with the bright colours on the facade of the mall.

Not sure if that is why those colours were chosen, but it works!

[kps]

Randoms:  When is the King St underpass expected to re-open (officially)?

The latest word is that paving will be complete in late July. Work on sidewalks will start in a week or two. I don't know whether the sidewalks will be opened when they're done; personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[tomh009]

Much late ... some early-morning photos from Tuesday:

So what are these things for?

[Canard]

Pre-run conduits for running wires through.

[KevinL]

Randoms:  When is the King St underpass expected to re-open (officially)?

The latest word is that paving will be complete in late July. Work on sidewalks will start in a week or two. I don't know whether the sidewalks will be opened when they're done; personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Don't be surprised if people make full use of the sidewalks as soon as they are in, especially evenings/weekends with no workers around.

[ijmorlan]

The latest word is that paving will be complete in late July. Work on sidewalks will start in a week or two. I don't know whether the sidewalks will be opened when they're done; personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Don't be surprised if people make full use of the sidewalks as soon as they are in, especially evenings/weekends with no workers around.

Well, once the sidewalks are in there is no good reason for people not to go through, assuming there aren’t construction crews around. Once they’re walking on the final surface intended for people to walk on, who cares what is still happening in the middle of the street? Even if there is a big hole beside the sidewalk, that’s not really any more dangerous than the traffic that will be rushing through once the project is done.

One thing I’ve noticed we’re not very good at is opening crucial portions of a site while work continues on the rest of the site. If the site is a blob that can be walked around, this doesn’t matter, but if the site is blocking an important traffic route, it can significantly reduce the impact of the construction during a sometimes-lengthy period during which the overall project is nearly done, or at least looks nearly done, but there is still a lot of work to do before it really is completely done.

[dunkalunk]

Aside from not going with the approved anchor wall designs, does anyone else find it bothersome that they didn't even bother to vertically centre-justify Conestoga station text on a set of tiles? That g just looks awkward as hell.

[Canard]

No, I like it in the position chosen. I just wish it could be justified fully left or right; that always looks better. I hate centred things in general from a design standpoint.

Keep in mind there is a GRT and ion logo yet to go on, above the text.

[Markster]

The Conestoga anchor wall is the first one that I don't like.  In the above photo, at least, the colours strike me as a bit "cheap" looking.

It is much better in person, I think you might change your mind. The vibrant colours tie the station in with the bright colours on the facade of the mall.

Not sure if that is why those colours were chosen, but it works!

For reference:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Even on a hella cloudy day, the Conestoga Mall <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> station is very colourful. I only just noticed it's an extension of the mall art <a href="https://t.co/L0EIIZ2zjo">pic.twitter.com/L0EIIZ2zjo</a></p>&mdash; Mark Jackson-Brown (@Markster3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000/status/843872771616718848">March 20, 2017</a></blockquote>

[drum118]

April 08
Finally got all of the 250 photos I shot of the system that day as well the new LRV up on site.

A number of things standout from my Feb visit and doing some head scratching on them. On Northfield they have cut into the ROW an emergency u-turn with barriers between the tracks and assuming they are there until service start, otherwise, need to be replace if the u-turn is used. The other thing at the crossover at Conestoga Mall station is signals for the switches in the pit area. There are also snow melting blowers for each rail. To date, all the ramps for the station have been groove as a safety protection, but the Northfield station is saying concrete or X material is to go on it as well the platform. At each end of the platform is a 6-8" slab with a ramp area to cross the track. There are also a fair number of cameras on each light post.

As to when King underpass is to be open, I have being saying end of May or early June as there is only a small section of track work to be pour this week and will take a few weeks for the sidewalk. Will not take long to get the base of the road ready for the base coat of Asphalt. Traffic lights at intersection at the street where traffic lanes move from the centre to the side could hold things up without having that side street being close until done.