ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[timc]

Great overhead shot of Erb and Caroline by the Ion team:

It's nice to see that they caught that Canada Post van in the middle of making an illegal left turn.

[Viewfromthe42]

I recognize that there is currently construction blocking the right hand westbound lane of Erb, but looking at the curb, it looks like they're guiding cars making that turn to wind up illegally and dangerously in the left hand lane of Erb.

[Markster]

If you mean the upper right crossing in the above image, it can't go straight across because then you need yet another set of railway crossing arms.

I don't have an issue with the island, but the crossing from the island southbound (to the left) is ridiculous.  I can't see how crossing arms would be a limiting factor here.  What crossing arms are they reusing with this alignment?

chutten, you seem to have gotten every point, good and bad, that I could think of. And then some!

[edit] wait I thought of some more:
* Southbound Caroline's stop bars are set much too far back.   That's a legal left-turn-on-red there, and by setting it so far back, it makes it awkward to approach through the bikebox, crosswalk, and then through the excessive extra space to get to a point where you can see approaching traffic.
* In general, turning radiuses all around are too large.

[Canard]

I'm just saying if it went straight across they would have to add another railway crossing to get to the other side. Or a fence and block it off.

[Markster]

I'm just saying if it went straight across they would have to add another railway crossing to get to the other side. Or a fence and block it off.

But there doesn't appear to be a "railway crossing" at the jaunty crosswalk's south end anyway.
The entire intersection appears to be controlled with regular traffic signals, and no arms.

[Canard]

Here's what I mean.  Yellow are the "new" crossings that everyone seems to want.  If you do this, though, then Transport Canada says "Oops, you're crossing a mainline railway, now you need crossing lights/arms/bells/the works.

The way it's set up now, you can get a "free" crossing by doing it in the road, through the intersection.

   

[Canard]

AND! By the way, the current setup is TWO TIMES BETTER than the alternative everyone seems to want if you're at CIGI and want to go to Knox! Current setup you cross two things. Proposed setup you actually cross *four* things.

[Markster]

Yeah, that's not my issue at all!  I was wondering what the confusion was.

Also.... I sure hope that they build that rightmost crossing you have painted in there!  A "sidewalk" as commonly called.

No, I'm talking about this:
   

Straighten out that thing to match what any normal person is going to actually walk.
Also... while we're at it, let's give some asphalt that is never going to be used by cars back to pedestrians.

[timc]

I had thought about suggesting returning that asphalt, except it will be used by buses.

The way the crossing is now, it is perpendicular to the tracks, which seems like a good thing for bicycles. Is that the motivation for the crossing being how it is?

[DKsan]

Well, considering bicycles *shouldn't* use the sidewalk/crosswalks....

Anyways Canard, the rightmost/NW sidewalk crossing will be built, because they have to do the same thing on the southeast side.

And timc is right about why we can't extend out the island.

EDITED.

[KevinL]

Some Ion-relevant fare media details have just come out (what printed POP tickets will look like) - I posted on the GRT thread.

[Canard]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As scheduled in our Ontario LRV improvement plan, La Pocatière site has begun work on underframes for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TTC?src=hash">#TTC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Metrolinx">@Metrolinx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt">@rideIONrt</a> projects <a href="https://t.co/SqHxiBXUY1">pic.twitter.com/SqHxiBXUY1</a></p>&mdash; BombardierRail (@BombardierRail) <a href="https://twitter.com/BombardierRail/status/783382977015386113">October 4, 2016</a></blockquote>

As I reported quite some time ago, production of our LRV frames will ramp up in La Pocatiere, Quebec (formerly Mexico).

[timc]

Well, considering bicycles *shouldn't* use the sidewalk/crosswalks....

... Even if those sidewalks are multi-use trails?

[Canard]

Yeah, isn't the trail on the North side of Caroline supposed to be a MUT?

[Markster]

I had thought about suggesting returning that asphalt, except it will be used by buses.

Used by buses, eh? We can do something about that!

Hey look you've got a nice transit lane right there!
And lets shrink some of those turning radii while we're at it...

   

The way the crossing is now, it is perpendicular to the tracks, which seems like a good thing for bicycles. Is that the motivation for the crossing being how it is?

It's not a cross-ride, so you better be walking your bike. For some reason, a 45 degree angle crossing of the tracks is permitted on the south side of the intersection, but avoided awkwardly on the west side.