ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[tomh009]

Same guys -- saw them about an hour earlier, applying the goop at the same spot.

[SammyOES2]

I asked the project team today what was up with the temporary fences (the ones in your photos).  There are a bunch of other stations that are getting them.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What are these temporary railings for, <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a>? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/vRy3SXy0TB">pic.twitter.com/vRy3SXy0TB</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/887787789890310152">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote>

It's almost as if "Hey, service is going to start in 2 days!  So we need some temporary fences quickly!", except... service isn't starting for a year.  So... if it was starting in a year, you could have time to put in permanent ones.

...so what possible purpose could they serve?

If I had to guess, they can't leave the curb w/o a barrier because there is no warning/indication that there's a curb there.

Edit: This one quoted might be just to keep away from the post?  The one I was thinking of was the one on Northfield where the open side has a lowered curb but the rest is normal curb.

[Markster]

I wonder how many years it will be before they legitimize the *obvious* crossing for the Willis Way platform.  I can guarantee you that 80% of all able-bodied people will just cross Caroline St directly from the platform.


And more fruitless traffic control is clearly on display at Northfield.
Most destinations at Northfield are to the left.  They are forcing all exits out the right.  Again, most people are going to walk around that fence, but then cut diagonally across the ROW toward their destination.  Unless I suppose, they put a dividing fence down the middle.

[danbrotherston]

D'Amato has a fluffy kind of piece about King St. and the LRT:

https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/...-fingers-/

[SammyOES2]

Hah.

"The infusion of funds is good for the businesses who somehow survived the construction, and for the whole area. It will unquestionably become more vibrant, more attractive, wealthier and safer. But how will we remember the old places?"

Old places like: "After a while we figure out what has gone: a pizza shop frequented by students and a manicure shop, plus some houses on Louisa Street."

Our history is slipping away!!!

[Viewfromthe42]

That's a very dangerous sentiment I'm very much against, preservation for the sake of preservation. I have fond memories of being in a foreign country and going on a visit to a farm. They were talking about building a new farmhouse to accommodate new family members, and would be getting rid of the old one, which he said was a quarter-millenia old. It wasn't in great or terrible shape, wasn't anything particularly noteworthy based on what he was saying, and the farmer's sense of providing jobs and food for people took priority over keeping something around because it had been around for some time resonated with me, and still does today.

[SammyOES2]

Yeah, there's obviously a balance. But we can't have everything. One small example: preserving inner city history is going to be at odds with increasing intensification and preserving farmland.

And you just have to chuckle when the thing we might miss is a pizza hangout for students and a manicure shop.

[panamaniac]

That's a very dangerous sentiment I'm very much against, preservation for the sake of preservation. I have fond memories of being in a foreign country and going on a visit to a farm. They were talking about building a new farmhouse to accommodate new family members, and would be getting rid of the old one, which he said was a quarter-millenia old. It wasn't in great or terrible shape, wasn't anything particularly noteworthy based on what he was saying, and the farmer's sense of providing jobs and food for people took priority over keeping something around because it had been around for some time resonated with me, and still does today.

I believe that you've misunderstood the D'Amato piece.  She was simply commenting on the phenomenon of quickly forgetting the details of the "before" when a streetscape changes.  I know I have often experienced it myself.  Yes, it is "history slipping away", but D'Amato is, at most, waxing nostalgic about it.

[danbrotherston]

That's a very dangerous sentiment I'm very much against, preservation for the sake of preservation. I have fond memories of being in a foreign country and going on a visit to a farm. They were talking about building a new farmhouse to accommodate new family members, and would be getting rid of the old one, which he said was a quarter-millenia old. It wasn't in great or terrible shape, wasn't anything particularly noteworthy based on what he was saying, and the farmer's sense of providing jobs and food for people took priority over keeping something around because it had been around for some time resonated with me, and still does today.

I believe that you've misunderstood the D'Amato piece.  She was simply commenting on the phenomenon of quickly forgetting the details of the "before" when a streetscape changes.  I know I have often experienced it myself.  Yes, it is "history slipping away", but D'Amato is, at most, waxing nostalgic about it.

This was my impression as well.  The article was fairly positive IMO.

Ironically, some of what she "forgot" includes an "asian massage parlor" across the street from an elementary school.

But I agree, "preservation for the sake of preservation" can be a problem, but I don't think it's a big one, I think it is different than the "no change of any kind ever" position, which is far more common and problematic.  But both pale in comparison to the "use heritage laws as justification to oppress and suppress groups we don't like".

Sometimes I wonder if heritage preservation is worth the risks of misuse.

[Viewfromthe42]

Preston and Cambridge's response to it seems very much in the thread of "preservation for the sake of preservation", alongside the fact that in Downtown Kitchener the Heritage committee will tell you much more still needs preserving when already *one third* of downtown kitchener (I think Victoria to Stirling-ish, Lancaster to Courtland-ish) is untouchable heritage.

[Canard]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We have a date! The King St. Grade Separation will fully re-open on July 28! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/sZ9NbpEFR3">https://t.co/sZ9NbpEFR3</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/888404891038883843">July 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

[Markster]

Have they started pouring the sidewalks yet?

[danbrotherston]

Not unless they start today....yesterday there were still big holes where the sidewalks go, and bits of retaining wall missing.

[Markster]

Tom's got a picture!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Surface asphalt on, striping now. Open for vehicles on or about next Friday. Alleluia. Peds/bikes OK now. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/zdkIBONmos">pic.twitter.com/zdkIBONmos</a></p>&mdash; Tom Galloway (@tomjgalloway14) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomjgalloway14/status/888409640031182852">July 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

My guess is they'll have the north sidewalk finished, but that south sidewalk needs a lot of work.

[tomh009]

Two random LRT photos:

This generator (near the market station) has been running for more than six months now, I think.  Surely the TPSS doesn't need an external generator, does it?
   

Transporting gravel using the LRT tracks ...