Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

I didn't watch the virtual meeting, so I was unaware of what was happening with the region's portion of Duke, though I can see now it's obviously missing from the current plans. If anyone knows where I'll be able to find this meeting that would be appreciated (I seem to be saying this a lot lately).

I actually misread the map legend on the earlier information package, and thought a MUT was planned for David St, but it's actually a "neighbourhood bikeway". This is my fault for misreading this originally, but still very disappointing. The first time I took my partner out cycling we tried to take David St to the IHT, and she aborted by the time we got to the stop signs. From then on we had to go through Victoria park to the IHT, which takes about 7 minutes longer trying to not run children over. So it's very disappointing that what is essentially the only connection to the IHT aside from going through the park is listed as "All Ages and Abilities" when I have an adult uncomfortable riding on it. The IHT and Spur Line connections are really going to be my primary uses of this grid and David St and Duke St really complicate both of those now...

A question for anyone who attended the virtual meeting: Was there any mention of this MUT between Victoria Park and the Mike Wagner green? (Light blue on this map)

Wonderfully, CoK (and Region) have their videos on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtqS3dParZ0&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=cityofkitchener

This was the Community & Infrastructure Services Committee...I have no idea what that means, but the net result is on Monday the issue will be back at Council which probably won't reverse the decision.

Being aware of these meetings...there isn't a good option, you literally have to either read the news meticulously, or worse, read the agendas...it's all public, but it's not exactly accessible.

The MUT on Mike Wagner Green is not part of the downtown grid project but has been a project that the city has wanted to work on for a while now, it's still in the planning phases and I don't really expect it to be funded for at least a few years.  It's just shown as part of the planned downtown infrastructure.

For Duke, yes, quite a shame.  For David, I agree in part, to me, it depends a lot on the section and the day...when the park is busy David as a whole is a terrible street, I mean, leaving aside the traffic, there's lots of parked cars, and lots of drivers distracted by trying to find a space and getting angry about not finding one. I would hate to live there, and if the people in that neighbourhood had any sense that would be their top priority, instead of killing sidewalks in the park.

But on week days, Duke David west of Courtland is reasonably pleasant, I ride on it with my little one with no fear.  East of Courtland...definitely a different story...but it also depends on when you tried it, usually I find that the Courtland intersection is unpleasant but otherwise, it's pretty tolerable, only the occasional aggressive driver, but when something is closed on Queen...as it was several times this summer, all the traffic is routed on David and it was truely dangerous.  I'm also uncertain how it will be affected by the traffic. There is a whole heck of a lot of traffic cutting from David to Joseph. That will only be able to happen in one direction now, so probably it will be significantly reduced. The only other major traffic generator is the Drewlo building.  It could be that David gets better.  Or it could be that because of Joseph being one way, it gets worse. The traffic study probably makes an educated guess, but ultimately, we'll have to wait and see.

I do wish that they had planned some traffic calming measures, or more separation for David between Courtland and Joseph, but ultimately, I can understand why it wasn't a top priority. Of course, totally possible the VPNA would have killed it anyway.