ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[timio]

There has been tons of progress. I think what you mean is it's nice to see the "rebuilding" phase start. So much of the work so far has been the deconstruction and "fixing existing infrastructure" phase.

Yes. Digging holes, while fascinating to watch and see all the cool stuff under the ground, isn't as exciting to see as above ground work.

[timio]

I crossed the tracks near E5 at UW today and you could see the alignment starting to take shape. They've rerouted the spur in the area so it's all one side of the corridor now.

[Markster]

I crossed the tracks near E5 at UW today and you could see the alignment starting to take shape.  They've rerouted the spur in the area so it's all one side of the corridor now.

All one side of what corridor?

[timio]

The current spur is all on the east side of the corridor now. This may be old news, but I haven't walked over that way for a few weeks. Last time I walked by, it still seemed to weave around.

[zanate]

Based on the recent pics I've seen of King Street in front of GRH, I'm assuming there will be bike lanes on King?

Sadly, not really. There'll be sections of painted shoulder like this one in some stretches, because the minimum width for curb to curb is 4.8m, whereas the lane itself will usually be about 3.2-3.3. That leaves a nice painted shoulder that could be a de facto bike lane.

Except...

The project agreement drawings show many places where turn bays eliminate this painted shoulder. So anyone cycling on King will suddenly lose their painted shoulder at most intersections, and they'll have to merge.

A pretty disappointing failure to make the corridor truly mixed-mode.

[Markster]

Based on the recent pics I've seen of King Street in front of GRH, I'm assuming there will be bike lanes on King?

In addition to Zanate's comments, you can see this lovely example:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rail, curbs, asphalt on King Street in (part of) midtown! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash">#wrLRT</a> <a href="http://t.co/DsgzrtVOgf">pic.twitter.com/DsgzrtVOgf</a></p>&mdash; Michael Druker (@m_druker) <a href="https://twitter.com/m_druker/status/646428585876697088">September 22, 2015</a></blockquote>

Just like Queen St S, every once in a while there will be pinchpoints forcing you into traffic, for no real reason other than that they didn't really consider bikes at all.

Definitely not a bike lane.

[Canard]

You should be on the train holding onto your bicycle in the vestibule by the doors, not on the road.

[GtwoK]

Drove / walked around some of the route today. Caroline's looking real good, not as cramped as I thought it would. They were also installing cat poles as I walked by! Will be great once the sidewalks are in.

Borden is lined with welded rails along the finished portion to the CN tracks.

Stirling / Charles is being torn up again today for some reason, but portions of Charles between Stirling / Borden have catpoles, so we could be looking at curbs around here soon!

[Canard]

Mega update!  I'm way behind in posting my photos.


Gauntlet track construction @ R&T Park:
   

Nice date embossed in the culvert/bridge @ Waterloo Park:
   

Railing work on the culvert/bridge @ Waterloo Park:
   

Charles/Stirling:
   

Charles/Stirling:
   

[Canard]

Charles at the School:
   

Charles near the School, looking North toward Borden:
   

Charles:
   

Borden, looking Southwest from Charles:
   

Charles/Benton:
   

[Canard]

Rails on site across from the Benton garage:
   

Looking South on Charles, from the Benton St. Garage:
   

King Street by Grand River Hospital:
   

King Street by Grand River Hospital:
   

King Street by Grand River Hospital:
   

[Canard]

King Street:
   

Erb/Caroline:
   

Caroline:
   

Rails (!!) and other structures on site now at the OMSF:
   

Artsy fartsy:
   

[tomh009]

Looking South on Charles, from the Benton St. Garage:

Love these telephoto shots of the construction!

[GtwoK]

Was driving down Ottawa tonight and noticed they've put up a sign at Courtland noting that the road will be closed between Courtland and Mill for 6 (?) weeks starting October 5th.

Was quite surprised, I had thought for sure that the "alternate" routes of the tracks wouldn't be started until next year!

Not only that, but closures of Victoria (Charles — Duke), and Courtland (Hayward — Fairview) were just listed, both effective today. This is gonna be traffic hell. I thought maybe they were holding off until other routes had reopened, but doesn't seem like it.

I question the Victoria closure though — why to Duke? There's no track being run along there, is there? My understanding was the track would run from Duke — Francis — King, then up to the King/Victoria station. Is the track now going to run the length of Duke, then over onto Victoria to the station?

[ijmorlan]

Rails on site across from the Benton garage:

Great photos, thanks!

In that first one of rails across from Benton garage, it looks to me like some are pre-curved. Maybe some are for one of the curves in the area? Also, some appear to have ends that are shaped, perhaps to join a frog or for elsewhere in a switch. I haven’t seen that before in other locations where rails are stored.