ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Pheidippides]

Anchor wall frame on Willis is up:
   

I think some of those temporary wooden poles along King in and around Uptown are about to be replaced by metal poles...in the middle of the sidewalk. This was taken beside the Bauer lofts:
   

Some pictures of the old culvert under King on the north side of the tracks:
   
   

[danbrotherston]

I think some of those temporary wooden poles along King in and around Uptown are about to be replaced by metal poles...in the middle of the sidewalk. This was taken beside the Bauer lofts:

Really?  That's incredibly frustrating, they should just move them to the edge.

[tvot]

Some daylight photos of the King @ Allen bridge:

   

   

And the building of the platform's feature wall structure (I can't remember what the correct term is):

   

The old railway ties from Caroline & Erb:

   

[megabytephreak]

Some daylight photos of the King @ Allen bridge:

Which is now gone. They removed it when they pulled the tracks into place for the curve from King to Allen. Concrete was poured today for the northbound side through the intersection of King & Allen.

I didn't get a photo, but there was much heavier rebar on the concrete sections withing the intersection than the sections that will only see LRT traffic. For the intersections there is a heavy C-Shaped section of what looks like 3/4" rebar, where as the straight sections have just the grid of 1/2" or so. I wonder how long roads would last if we built them out of concrete with that kind of reinforcement.

[timc]

I wonder how long roads would last if we built them out of concrete with that kind of reinforcement.

I imagine they would last until the first water main break.

[Markster]

I wonder how long roads would last if we built them out of concrete with that kind of reinforcement.

I imagine they would last until the first water main break.  

And that's why they moved the water mains out from under the LRT tracks. That would not be fun to dig through under a regular street!

[Canard]

This fact is never explained to people by the media, ever, and I think it would be a huge "...oh." moment for those who don't get "why it takes so long" to build LRT.

This project is seriously like 75% utility work and 25% building a train.

Very happy we are mostly in the "building a train" phase.

[tomh009]

Charles St morning update!

WB rails already welded at Borden (albeit only a fairly short segment):
   

Ready for the curbing machine, for the curb separating the embedded track from the roadway, on "WB" Ottawa St:
   

Track now completely embedded between Ontario St and Queen St.  The shoulders (?) still need to be poured, though, as well as the drive ramp to the Full Circle parking lot:
   

[nms]

With respect the challenges of pedestrian crossings around Waterloo Square.  The reason that pedestrians are taking unorthodox (and potentially dangerous) detours is that there is often not very clear signage about where a temporary crossing is.  In Uptown Waterloo, the big crossing across King Street is very welcome, but there is no clear north-south crossing.  At one point I was attempting to walk from the Waterloo Public Library back to where I had parked my car in the parking lot south of Willis Way.  I dutifully followed the "Pedestrian crossing this way" arrows until they suddenly reversed direction meaning that the crossing was imaginary.  I eventually found a route on my own.

[ijmorlan]

This fact is never explained to people by the media, ever, and I think it would be a huge "...oh." moment for those who don't get "why it takes so long" to build LRT.

This project is seriously like 75% utility work and 25% building a train.

Very happy we are mostly in the "building a train" phase.

This is why the design standards for regional roads should call for an LRT reservation. For example, Fischer-Hallman should be designed to have an LRT running down the middle, and should be built as if it had an LRT running down the middle, just without any LRT-specific construction. Then whenever it is determined that a new LRT route is needed, it can be built with minimal disruption — probably not much more than lane closures.

I’m also happy we’re in the “building a train” phase. Although it feels like we’re still in a massive construction project, and we are, there isn’t actually much time left in many places. Soon roads will start opening up and traffic will assume its post-construction state.

[schooner77]

I second nms's observation. The pedestrian paths around the Uptown area are mind numbingly difficult to navigate. The signage is almost non-existant. I really feel for the businesses, they must be feeling the pinch.

[Canard]

There's only so much they can do. When pranksters start moving cones, barrels, fences and signs around after-hours, what do you expect?

[KevinL]

There's only so much they can do. When pranksters start moving cones, barrels, fences and signs around after-hours, what do you expect?

That's despicable behaviour. But if it's happening in high-traffic areas, we should be seeing stronger enforcement, or at the least having someone check over their arrangement each morning and correct where needed.

[Canard]

It's definitely happening.  But by the next morning, it's too late - a bunch of pedestrians the previous evening have already been confused, leading to angry tweets and forum posts and cut-throughs!  Whenever I ride along after-hours, I do my best to put signs and barrels back, if it's obvious they've been displaced...

I must admit, I haven't fixed this one yet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Okay... These detours are getting a bit ridiculous. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/iEpWaGXhpM">pic.twitter.com/iEpWaGXhpM</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/755847709555294208">July 20, 2016</a></blockquote>

[rangersfan]

Speaking of detours - the cycling detour where the Spur line trail hits Regina and heading north there are cycling detour signs all the way until you hit the construction on Regina St, not well coordinated.