02-17-2023, 04:55 PM
(02-17-2023, 01:59 PM)westwardloo Wrote:(02-17-2023, 11:57 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: For the same reason I don't want the highway widened. Many of us believe we should stop expanding roads and start reducing or restricting traffic in the city.While living in the Netherlands did you happen noticed any HWY's ? or for that matter any grade separated vehicular rail crossings? Your all or nothing approach to transportation infrastructure is ridiculous, even the most pedestrian/ public transit friendly countries in Europe don't plan with that approach. Utrecht a city similar to the size of KW has HWY's to 6 different urban centres from it. You can invest in all forms of transit.
Whether this is the right crossing for that, I am not sure, but it doesn't really matter, it's all academic, the region will not consider doing it. Not only do they not have a goal of reducing VMT, the idea of closing a region road is literally confusing to the engineers, it's like trying to explain water to a fish.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@52.0948993,5....77z?hl=en
A HWY between two large cities in Ontario is not irresponsible planning, nor is it necessarily a strictly dystopian car only approach to planning as you continuously spout. HWY 7 will make way for the City of kitchener or the Region to reimagine Victoria street, transforming it from its current state as STROUD to something more pedestrian friendly. I would also argue that the boardwalk/ west kitchener could have been a more pedestrian friendly neighborhood had the Region decided to with the Ring Road HWY as opposed to the STROUD with roundabouts approach.
I know you would love to see the Billion Dollars only be used for bike lanes, but I can't help but notice that neither kitchener nor Guelph has received any money from the Ontario Government for active transportation projects as a result of the government delaying HWY 7? I admit that it seems like North America seemed to only invest in car infrastructure for the past 6 decades, but there has been some significant improvements in that regards in the last decade or so, especially in our Region. W
Why yes, I live ON a rail line. There's many crossings, one right next to me. Of course, the next one towards the city is 1.7 kms away.
I am not and nowhere have I ever suggested that I want to have no roads anywhere in our city. But we have too many roads in Canada and we prioritize free movement of cars above all else in our city. The next railway underpass from Lexington is 500 meters away. So if Dutch drivers (and most of my neighbours are drivers) can drive 1.7 kms out of their way to get across the railway why is it "ridiculous" to suggest that Kitchener drivers can go 500 meters out of their way?
One of the things about here that is great is that it is much easier to get around by bike, the routes are more direct (the nearest bicycle underpass of the railway is only 0.7 kms away) and cars are forced to take a longer router. It is that de-prioritization and restriction on free movement of cars that makes cars less popular for short trips and makes this city a better place to live. And this is in one of the more car friendly places in the Netherlands.
This is the "ridiculousness" that I want in Canada.
Building roads creates more traffic. That is an indisputable fact. If the region had built a highway ring road, aside from our budget being in a very different place from where it is, there would be more driving than there is today. Building a new highway 7 when there is no meaningful transit option in existence is an intentional policy choice that isn't an improvement over the past 60 years of planning.
And no, our current provincial government is very pro-car...same as the past 60 years. I don't expect to get money for active transportation from the province. But I have no idea what that has to do with this discussion?