Welcome Guest!
In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away.
or Create an Account




Thread Rating:
  • 4 Vote(s) - 4.5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Walking in Waterloo Region
(01-23-2017, 04:37 PM)timc Wrote: I was thinking about this some more over the weekend. I would even be a bit happier if the bicycle signal changed every cycle (maybe just during the day?) but the button needed to be pushed for pedestrians to cross. Otherwise, I really don't even get why there are separate signals. I understand that the pedestrian crossing needs a longer duration because people walk more slowly than they bike.

I'm not sure what you're referring to?  Bicycle signals always change with every cycle.  

Frankly, most pedestrian signals should too.
Reply


Photo 
Some pictures for the discussion of whether or not the city should take on the responsibility for sidewalk clearing. I think they should be doing it but are property owners willing to accept some property damage?

This section of sidewalk the city clears always gets the edges of the lawn pulled up and this week they dislodged a large chunk of the sidewalk.


Attached Files Image(s)
       
Reply
(01-23-2017, 04:55 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(01-23-2017, 04:37 PM)timc Wrote: I was thinking about this some more over the weekend. I would even be a bit happier if the bicycle signal changed every cycle (maybe just during the day?) but the button needed to be pushed for pedestrians to cross. Otherwise, I really don't even get why there are separate signals. I understand that the pedestrian crossing needs a longer duration because people walk more slowly than they bike.

I'm not sure what you're referring to?  Bicycle signals always change with every cycle.  

Frankly, most pedestrian signals should too.

I missed this reply before. My suggestion is to have the bicycle crossing signal at Erb and the spur line change every cycle, regardless of whether a bike is there or not. Are you saying that it does? Because I haven't noticed that.
Reply
(02-14-2017, 02:30 PM)timc Wrote:
(01-23-2017, 04:55 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I'm not sure what you're referring to?  Bicycle signals always change with every cycle.  

Frankly, most pedestrian signals should too.

I missed this reply before. My suggestion is to have the bicycle crossing signal at Erb and the spur line change every cycle, regardless of whether a bike is there or not. Are you saying that it does? Because I haven't noticed that.

This is definitely what happens.  But I'm not sure what you mean by each cycle?  It's an on demand ped crossing, so it turns to ped crossing, and the bike signal always turns green.

The region should really consider optimizing these signals further:

1.  There's no reason to turn the ped crossing on when there's only a bike present (because bikes cross faster than people on foot).

2.  There's no reason to turn the ped walk sign on for longer than 1-2 seconds.  Pedestrians are already expected to group, and thus only need a moment to go.  Leaving it on for an extended period is a car oriented policy that makes no sense at a trail crossing.

These changes would allow the light to cycle faster which would save everybody time.
Reply
Or to have more crossings where we show a countdown even with the walk signal on, so that we know how long we have regardless of where in the walk/don't walk symbology we are, and what the wait is like to cross the other way.
Reply
Chris: my experience from London, where the municipality clears sidewalks, is that plenty of homeowners have some amount of sod torn up, and that some complain. But also that those who care enough about their grass put up stakes to make sure their sod won't be some to be torn up. It's an easy fix, and it works.
Reply
(02-14-2017, 08:19 PM)MidTowner Wrote: Chris: my experience from London, where the municipality clears sidewalks, is that plenty of homeowners have some amount of sod torn up, and that some complain. But also that those who care enough about their grass put up stakes to make sure their sod won't be some to be torn up. It's an easy fix, and it works.

Also, if the sod is level with the sidewalk, it's much less likely to get torn up than if it's 1-2 cm above the sidewalk level.
Reply


Has anyone seen a list of which art works will be installed at the several ion stations? There's a piece about the final selection in the Record, but it omits the full details, for some reason.

Perhaps I should be asking this in the Arts and culture threads?

Edit: sorry, I see that I am not in the correct thread.
Reply
(02-15-2017, 11:47 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Has anyone seen a list of which art works will be installed at the several ion stations?  There's a piece about the final selection in the Record, but it omits the full details, for some reason.

Perhaps I should be asking this in the Arts and culture threads?

Edit: sorry, I see that I am not in the correct thread.

All recommended pieces listed here: http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/s...0#pid32410
Reply
(02-14-2017, 03:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: This is definitely what happens.  But I'm not sure what you mean by each cycle?  It's an on demand ped crossing, so it turns to ped crossing, and the bike signal always turns green.

Any time I've gone to that crossing on my bike, the light will only change if I'm there waiting on the sensor. If you're saying that it changes on a timer, then I have yet to see it.
Reply
(02-15-2017, 01:39 PM)timc Wrote:
(02-14-2017, 03:35 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: This is definitely what happens.  But I'm not sure what you mean by each cycle?  It's an on demand ped crossing, so it turns to ped crossing, and the bike signal always turns green.

Any time I've gone to that crossing on my bike, the light will only change if I'm there waiting on the sensor. If you're saying that it changes on a timer, then I have yet to see it.

By "on demand" I mean you must push the ped beg button.  I'm not saying there's a time.  But if you push the beg button it will turn green.

Are you saying that it should turn green on a timer?  I don't think that would make any sense.  The light is green in one direction for about 15 seconds out of every 1 - 1:30.  If it was on a green timer, the average wait time would be like 30-40 seconds, where as right now, since it's not that busy average wait time is only like 15-20 seconds.

What really should be done, and I have raised this issue, is, in addition to the cycle changes I mentioned earlier (which should allow a cycle time of 0:45) the bike sensor should be moved backwards on the trail as far as possible so that the light could be green by the time you actually arrive.   This is what is most often done in the Netherlands.
Reply
Stop me if I'm wrong about how these things work.

The lights along Erb street are synchronized in a green wave. Why can't the bicycle signal at the spur line crossing be configured to automatically change in sequence along with signals at other cross streets? At least during the daytime?
Reply
(02-15-2017, 02:14 PM)timc Wrote: Stop me if I'm wrong about how these things work.

The lights along Erb street are synchronized in a green wave. Why can't the bicycle signal at the spur line crossing be configured to automatically change in sequence along with signals at other cross streets? At least during the daytime?

While this is a one way street, which makes green waves easier, I suspect this is something that is possible in theory, but doesn't really work in practice.  I'm not an expert though, and have no idea about this particular situation.

There are different schools of thought, some planners in the Netherlands argue that green waving is such an intractable problem that minimizing wait time at each individual intersection is more effective.  And that's what I think can and should be done here.  If the light sequencing was improved, and the sensor was moved back 50 - 70 meters from the intersection, so as to trigger it 10-20 seconds before arriving, I would expect that the majority of cyclists approaching the intersection would get a green on arrival, without affecting flow of traffic.  This would be far better than the current situation.

Of course, I'm not an expert, so I can't really say for sure that this is better, but surely there is some way to model this to determine.  I wish I had the skills/resources to do so.
Reply


The Region of Waterloo 2016 Collision Report
http://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Coun...df#page=96

• The number of collisions involving pedestrians increased by 6% (113 in 2014 to120 in 2016).

Top 10 Pedestrian Collision Locations (http://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Coun...f#page=104)
1 King St at University Ave WAT
2 King St at Bishop St CAM
3 River Rd at Holborn Dr/Access to Stanley Park Mall KIT
4 Westmount Rd at Victoria KIT
5 Erb St at Erbsville Rd/IRA Needles Blvd KIT
6 Ainslie St at Main St CAM
7 King St between Andrew and North to Signal (Central /KCI) Bridgeport Rd at King St KIT
8 Kingsway Dr (multi-res driveway) at Wilson Avenue KIT
9 King St at Queen St KIT
10 Block Line Rd at Strasburg Rd KIT

The first 10 ranked pedestrian collision locations for 2016 shows that there were 3 locations moving into the top 10 list. The Erb Street at Erbsville Road/Ira Needles  roundabout ranked #16 in 2014 and now ranks #5. The intersection of Kingsway Drive and Wilson Avenue ranked # 24 in 2014 and now ranks #8. The intersection of Block Line Road and Strasburg Road ranked #12 in 2014, now ranks #10 in 2016.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
Reply
And King/University makes the top of the list again. Not terribly surprising.
Reply
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »



Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 5 Guest(s)

About Waterloo Region Connected

Launched in August 2014, Waterloo Region Connected is an online community that brings together all the things that make Waterloo Region great. Waterloo Region Connected provides user-driven content fueled by a lively discussion forum covering topics like urban development, transportation projects, heritage issues, businesses and other issues of interest to those in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the four Townships - North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich.

              User Links