08-11-2018, 10:47 PM
(08-11-2018, 09:27 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(08-11-2018, 09:01 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Also Gaukel doesn’t go anywhere. Closing it to traffic will make very little difference to traffic patterns (except for the buses, obviously). I don’t know how much the City charges for closures or how they decide whether to allow them, but if I were making those choices I would quote a relatively low price for closing Gaukel compared to a lot of other streets I can think of.
On that point, once the terminal closes, I would strongly argue for Gaukel to be closed to traffic, and instead have a greenway to the park.
That would be awesome and very consistent with some of the other things happening in Kitchener. And in this particular case, essentially no impact on motor vehicle traffic, not that that should necessarily be a veto in cases where there is an impact. There is already a big entrance area of Victoria Park immediately across Charles from Gaukel so it would even make sense with the rest of the existing design. And at the other end, it’s right across King from City Hall. So it would connect two important points. At Charles, the left turn lane space and the portion of the intersection in line with the left turn space could become a massive pedestrian refuge, making it easier to cross. Some interaction between motor vehicle traffic and LRT traffic would even be removed.
So overall, a great and inexpensive project with really no downside.