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(05-29-2016, 07:24 PM)MidTowner Wrote: But where? King is uniquely designed for these sorts of events, along with being the heart of the city. Do you mean other parts of downtown? In which case, my response would be that closing yet other routes in particular the logical bypass Weber might exacerbate things. Or other parts of Kitchener besides downtown?
Well it's academic, since events have not been moved, but apart from Victoria Park Commons, there's also McLennan Park. I should think the Memorial Auditorium grounds could do the job. And the North Campus Fields if they dared to cross the border for a year. In any event, not happening.
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Victoria Park Commons is a nice idea, but I do believe it's still a Field of Mud.  And the others are far from downtown, which is exactly the area that these festivals (especially the big ones, like the Blues Festival) are intended to support and revitalize.
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Council has decided to lower the speed limit on Lancaster between Krug and Victoria from 50kph to 40kph.
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It is already 40 km/h between Krug and Frederick, is it not? Or am I just thinking of all the nasty lawn signs I see up any time I go by there?
This is a good move, I think - it's very tight through here, with lots of visibility problems (I'm thinking Mansion in particular, and Luella), and it's no fun at all to bike along because of the curb and narrowness. A good move, I think.
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Great stuff. Hope more streets are to follow.
Anyone have any background on how the decision came about?
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(05-30-2016, 09:20 PM)MidTowner Wrote: Great stuff. Hope more streets are to follow.
Anyone have any background on how the decision came about?
Neighbourhood pressure, I think. Over a considerable period of time.
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They just need better people to hassle council like the Glasgow Street folks have managed to get 40km/h limits long ago and now there is more traffic calming on that street now, which I found was a bit perplexing since it seems the residents of that street use the bike lane to put their garbage cans in.
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I'd be impressed if the Lancaster move were due to neighbourhood pressure. It's not easy to mount a campaign like that and keep it up for the length of time that would be required. I would guess that a planner or two were sympathetic at the least.
Glasgow west of Belmont, I have no memory of a different street configuration. Maybe a bit sadly, a traffic-calmed street seems kind of natural given the residents there...
Was Glasgow calmed only a while ago?
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It looked pretty fresh when I rode down it on the holiday monday last week but it's been at least a year or more since I've driven out that way so I don't know when they did it but there are some little islands and narrowed lanes. I remember being at a council meeting years ago and they had a number of delegations basically demanding that Glasgow get calming ahead of other streets that had met the criteria planners had picked for calming streets and Glasgow was apparently a prime route for fire trucks and the FD was opposed to speed humps but the Glasgow residents had some slick business-like power point presentation and I guess it worked for them.
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(05-30-2016, 10:36 PM)MidTowner Wrote: I'd be impressed if the Lancaster move were due to neighbourhood pressure. It's not easy to mount a campaign like that and keep it up for the length of time that would be required. I would guess that a planner or two were sympathetic at the least.
Glasgow west of Belmont, I have no memory of a different street configuration. Maybe a bit sadly, a traffic-calmed street seems kind of natural given the residents there...
Was Glasgow calmed only a while ago?
I could well be that City employees live in the neighbourhood..... However, Central Frederick has a pretty well organized neighbourhood association - I'd say that they could give the Mount Hopers a few lessons.
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I wasn't thinking specifically that bureaucrats were living in the neighbourhood so much that they were familiar with it and the specific constraints of Lancaster. But it very well could be that there are City employees living near there.
Good point about Central Frederick's organization. I expect Mount Hope (which is not yet its own neighbourhood association) could learn a lot there.
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When you mention the specific constraints of Lancaster, apart from its narrowness, I've always wondered how the houses came to be built on that angle to the street? There are a few places in older parts of Kitchener where you see this, and I can't say I've notice it much elsewhere.
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(05-30-2016, 11:11 PM)panamaniac Wrote: When you mention the specific constraints of Lancaster, apart from its narrowness, I've always wondered how the houses came to be built on that angle to the street? There are a few places in older parts of Kitchener where you see this, and I can't say I've notice it much elsewhere.
I believe it was intended to give narrow lots the illusion of greater width on the street.
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(05-30-2016, 11:41 PM)kps Wrote: (05-30-2016, 11:11 PM)panamaniac Wrote: When you mention the specific constraints of Lancaster, apart from its narrowness, I've always wondered how the houses came to be built on that angle to the street? There are a few places in older parts of Kitchener where you see this, and I can't say I've notice it much elsewhere.
I believe it was intended to give narrow lots the illusion of greater width on the street.
Interesting - it is certainly more interesting that the standard row that's parallel to the road.
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(05-30-2016, 10:49 PM)clasher Wrote: It looked pretty fresh when I rode down it on the holiday monday last week but it's been at least a year or more since I've driven out that way so I don't know when they did it but there are some little islands and narrowed lanes. I remember being at a council meeting years ago and they had a number of delegations basically demanding that Glasgow get calming ahead of other streets that had met the criteria planners had picked for calming streets and Glasgow was apparently a prime route for fire trucks and the FD was opposed to speed humps but the Glasgow residents had some slick business-like power point presentation and I guess it worked for them.
What is especially galling about Glasgow is that it is one of the original roads and for once it is straight. Of course it is a prime route for fire trucks, and for everybody else as well. It should have a 60km/h limit, and given the prevailing design standards in this city, should be four lanes (although if it were up to me I wouldn’t have nearly as many four-lane roads as we have). It definitely shouldn’t have the reduced 40km/h limit. If you want 40km/h and traffic calming don’t live on a major arterial.
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