Walking in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

I had a discussion with the Kitchener engineers on this one, the reason they do this is drainage. I took some time, evaluated the crossing, then gave that my opinion is that whatever the extra cost to fix the drainage so that the crossing can be done right is worth it, because the current design is incredibly problematic.

Hmmm, I wonder if that engineer understands how drainage works. Normally, my understanding is that gutters are connected via catch basins to underground storm sewer pipes. So, it should be sufficient to put a catch basin on each side of the trail on each side of the road, rather than having a continuous gutter.

It’s just barely conceivable that something more complicated than what I describe is needed; but what is not believable is that there really is no solution. They always manage to give motor vehicle traffic a smooth path when it has to cross another motor vehicle route.

Oh I'm quite sure he understands drainage quite well.

And yes, putting a catch basin on both sides of the crossing would solve the problem. Doing so would quintuple (at least) the cost of retrofitting the raised crossing because it would now require more than just surface work.

That was the whole point.

There are however, better options as well, in Edmonton, they apparently use steel plates to bridge from the curb to the crossing leaving a channel underneath for drainage. That would be much cheaper than retrofitting in new catch basins, and is something they may look into.

But I did leave him with the message that the way they were doing raised crossings now was intolerably bad for trail users.