Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment

[danbrotherston]

Well, now we know.

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...inter.html

[tomh009]

The tests are scheduled now so there should not be 50+ cars waiting at any time, likely no more than 20 or so if the throughput is the same as at 137.

[dtkvictim]

I have to admit I'd be a bit nervous about the quality of a homeless shelter they could set up there, especially with a temporary structure like that. I think the current hotel based shelters make far more sense, and I'd hope the city will be continuing that.

A Covid test center makes way more sense to me. Getting to the Glasgow test center on foot (sick people aren't taking transit!) from downtown, in the summer heat, with a sick person was a terrible experience. And given that a higher proportion of people living downtown don't have cars, I think the lack of a downtown or downtown adjacent testing center is a problem.

That was my take, and if they were doing a homeless shelter, the tent itself isn't much larger than the actual building that's heated right next to it...smaller if you include all the hallways.

A test centre would make some sense, but I'm not sure how big a lineup you'd be expecting, the terminal space isn't that big you probably couldn't fit more than 50 cars in line, I wouldn't really be looking forward to huge lineups of cars blocking our driveway (hence why I might have an interest in what goes in here). It would also end up blocking the GO Bus. But there is also a big need for a testing facility in an accessible location. I find the Glasgow location easy to get too, but that's only because I bike, by walking or transit, it's pretty inconvenient.

Honestly, I'd just like to know.

Fair point about the lines. Perhaps the lines at testing sites have gotten better since tests started being scheduled, so it's not a concern anymore? I was at the Glasgow one before things got busy in the fall (plus walk-in seemed to get processed way faster than the drive-ins), not sure how it is now.

Edit: Well, that's settled ^

[danbrotherston]

Yeah, hopefully you guys are right. Our building's driveway faces onto the terminal, if there was a lineup, we could be very easily physically blocked inside our building. I still hope they have a traffic plan for the site...they could easily close one lane of Joseph to form a lineup.

[tomh009]

They can do the lineup along the first bay (closest to Charles), the testing along the next two bays and then exit from the fourth bay. It should be quite manageable. And there are four parking lots within two blocks for anyone arriving too early.

[danbrotherston]

They can do the lineup along the first bay (closest to Charles), the testing along the next two bays and then exit from the fourth bay. It should be quite manageable. And there are four parking lots within two blocks for anyone arriving too early.

Do the vehicles not drive through the tents?  I was envisioning line up in Bay 1 and 4, drive through the tent and exit through bay 2 and 3. 

If they are not doing it that way, then they can only lineup in bay 1 or bay 4, and they can only fit ~20 vehicles in line there, which seems even more limited.

I also thought they needed auxiliary lineups for checkin and such...

[KW65]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...01?cmp=rss

[ac3r]

I have family who works for GRH. They said some staff are pleased. It'll be better at keeping potential Covid-19 positive carriers away from the hospital and as CBC reported, it will provide them some shelter during the winter months. However, with the models they just released for the province (6'500 cases per day in Ontario) apparently staff are terrified.

[tomh009]

They can do the lineup along the first bay (closest to Charles), the testing along the next two bays and then exit from the fourth bay. It should be quite manageable. And there are four parking lots within two blocks for anyone arriving too early.

Do the vehicles not drive through the tents?  I was envisioning line up in Bay 1 and 4, drive through the tent and exit through bay 2 and 3. 

If they are not doing it that way, then they can only lineup in bay 1 or bay 4, and they can only fit ~20 vehicles in line there, which seems even more limited.

I also thought they needed auxiliary lineups for checkin and such...

We did a drive-through test at 137. Arrived at the beginning of the hour for our appointment, directed to a parking spot. At the start, they then guided the cars into two lines going through the first tent (I am envisioning the second bay here) where they do the check-in process. At the end of that, we did basically a U-turn to enter the second tent (third bay) for the actual test. At no time were there more than 15-20 cars in line/lines. It will be even fewer in DTK as the percentage of walk-ins will be higher.

I think this should be quite manageable.

[danbrotherston]

Do the vehicles not drive through the tents?  I was envisioning line up in Bay 1 and 4, drive through the tent and exit through bay 2 and 3. 

If they are not doing it that way, then they can only lineup in bay 1 or bay 4, and they can only fit ~20 vehicles in line there, which seems even more limited.

I also thought they needed auxiliary lineups for checkin and such...

We did a drive-through test at 137. Arrived at the beginning of the hour for our appointment, directed to a parking spot. At the start, they then guided the cars into two lines going through the first tent (I am envisioning the second bay here) where they do the check-in process. At the end of that, we did basically a U-turn to enter the second tent (third bay) for the actual test. At no time were there more than 15-20 cars in line/lines. It will be even fewer in DTK as the percentage of walk-ins will be higher.

I think this should be quite manageable.

I think this would only be true if this was an additional site, where folks who aren't driving preferred to go here. Instead it replaces the existing site, which means it will see mostly the same clients, so you'd have to convert drivers to pedestrians to reduce the percentage of drivers, and that is near impossible to do in nice weather not during pandemic at a covid testing centre. So the only shift will come from people who couldn't get tested before because they lacked transportation, will be able to get tested now. Which is great, but ultimately, I expect not a big difference.

If they only have 15-20 cars in line, that's not too bad, but there's also fairly limited parking on site (20-30 cars), unless they will be using some of the nearby lots, which is entirely possible.

[danbrotherston]

I have family who works for GRH. They said some staff are pleased. It'll be better at keeping potential Covid-19 positive carriers away from the hospital and as CBC reported, it will provide them some shelter during the winter months. However, with the models they just released for the province (6'500 cases per day in Ontario) apparently staff are terrified.

Shelter is definitely good, but the Glasgow site isn't exactly close to the hospital...what was the concern?

[KevinL]

It's official now, if anyone missed the news. The main impetus was getting away from an unsheltered parking lot to a place where staff and supplies can be kept warm and dry between testing. https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...inter.html

[tomh009]

I think this would only be true if this was an additional site, where folks who aren't driving preferred to go here. Instead it replaces the existing site, which means it will see mostly the same clients, so you'd have to convert drivers to pedestrians to reduce the percentage of drivers, and that is near impossible to do in nice weather not during pandemic at a covid testing centre. So the only shift will come from people who couldn't get tested before because they lacked transportation, will be able to get tested now. Which is great, but ultimately, I expect not a big difference.

If they only have 15-20 cars in line, that's not too bad, but there's also fairly limited parking on site (20-30 cars), unless they will be using some of the nearby lots, which is entirely possible.

Checking the site today, I think the bays are about 100m long -- and 6m wide. That would actually allow two lines of cars, and easily 60-70 cars to line up without spilling onto the street.

Beyond that, there are actually five bays, not four (I had misremembered) so there are two bays on the Joseph St side of the tents, which could potentially accommodate close to 150 cars lining up, surely more than they want, by doing the entrance closest to Joseph St and the exit closest to Charles St.

[danbrotherston]

I think this would only be true if this was an additional site, where folks who aren't driving preferred to go here. Instead it replaces the existing site, which means it will see mostly the same clients, so you'd have to convert drivers to pedestrians to reduce the percentage of drivers, and that is near impossible to do in nice weather not during pandemic at a covid testing centre. So the only shift will come from people who couldn't get tested before because they lacked transportation, will be able to get tested now. Which is great, but ultimately, I expect not a big difference.

If they only have 15-20 cars in line, that's not too bad, but there's also fairly limited parking on site (20-30 cars), unless they will be using some of the nearby lots, which is entirely possible.

Checking the site today, I think the bays are about 100m long -- and 6m wide. That would actually allow two lines of cars, and easily 60-70 cars to line up without spilling onto the street.

Beyond that, there are actually five bays, not four (I had misremembered) so there are two bays on the Joseph St side of the tents, which could potentially accommodate close to 150 cars lining up, surely more than they want, by doing the entrance closest to Joseph St and the exit closest to Charles St.

The fifth bay is inaccessible, because of the GO transit platform extension, there is no way to leave that bay without driving on Gaukel which is closed.

I don't think you're going to get a line of cars two wide, it would completely block the roadway meaning it would be impossible for any vehicle to leave if there was a situation. There are two bays, and the suggestion is that one would be used for the first step, the second for the second step, as I understand is happening at Glasgow, which again comes back to room for 20-25 cars.  Maybe their operation has been streamlined and they could have 40-50 cars.

[tomh009]

The fifth bay is inaccessible, because of the GO transit platform extension, there is no way to leave that bay without driving on Gaukel which is closed.

I don't think you're going to get a line of cars two wide, it would completely block the roadway meaning it would be impossible for any vehicle to leave if there was a situation. There are two bays, and the suggestion is that one would be used for the first step, the second for the second step, as I understand is happening at Glasgow, which again comes back to room for 20-25 cars.  Maybe their operation has been streamlined and they could have 40-50 cars.

Forgot about the extension, my bad. But while the two lines (in one bay) wouldn't allow anyone to exit rapidly, the same is true at 137 today once you are lining up. Or at a Tim Hortons drive-through. Or any highway on/off-ramp at a rush hour. I think that's a reasonable compromise.

Or they could reopen the last 10m of Gaukel for exiting traffic. Not ideal, but it would address the capacity concerns.