04-29-2016, 09:16 AM
So, some notes on #fencegate (to coin a hashtag). I got to speak to Mayor Jaworsky last night. Here's what I remember (so please take all of this as my interpretation of what we talked about, not as actual quotes.)
Firstly, a 5 foot fence is in the cards. Waterloo Park, the spur, alongside UW, etc. There's not much room to maneuvre here, regulation is driving it.
However, the mayor is pushing for a more attractive solution for Waterloo Park. He claims that the funds are set aside to replace the black chain link with something that will still meet the height requirements. Not enough funds for something extremely fancy like a wrought iron fence, but better. He made reference to an example of fencing from a S.Cal. line but I didn't pursue that detail.
Given what GrandLinq has said (Canard's post) I would interpret that a better fence isn't a done deal yet. (GL will talk about the plan in place now, while DJ can talk about what he's trying to change.)
Interestingly, the mayor added that UW has signed off on the black chain link as the fence of choice for along their section. My opinion: they balked at spending money on something they don't have to. Whatevs, there's a long and proud history of chain link fence along this area.
Then, the mayor spoke about a situation with gates.
I didn't get an entirely clear picture but it seems there's a chance that strict rule interpretation is pushing us towards pedestrian gates for where ION is crossing sidewalks. So that would be on King near the town square, and then at the Caroline diagonal. There's a scenario the mayor mentioned where as many as 16 gate arms could be required at Caroline and Erb, firing off every three minutes. Bananas.
I'm not sure how likely this is, and this would be a point to follow up with the RT team staff. The gist I got was a combination of AODA rules and heavy rail rules where the interaction of freight with Erb is being considered at the average level of traffic Erb sees (50K vpd, apparently) rather than the level of traffic Erb sees when freight is actually rolling through (5 and a half cars, by my count).
I sense there's a bit of a battle going on with this one right now. I might need a new hashtag. #gategate.
Firstly, a 5 foot fence is in the cards. Waterloo Park, the spur, alongside UW, etc. There's not much room to maneuvre here, regulation is driving it.
However, the mayor is pushing for a more attractive solution for Waterloo Park. He claims that the funds are set aside to replace the black chain link with something that will still meet the height requirements. Not enough funds for something extremely fancy like a wrought iron fence, but better. He made reference to an example of fencing from a S.Cal. line but I didn't pursue that detail.
Given what GrandLinq has said (Canard's post) I would interpret that a better fence isn't a done deal yet. (GL will talk about the plan in place now, while DJ can talk about what he's trying to change.)
Interestingly, the mayor added that UW has signed off on the black chain link as the fence of choice for along their section. My opinion: they balked at spending money on something they don't have to. Whatevs, there's a long and proud history of chain link fence along this area.
Then, the mayor spoke about a situation with gates.
I didn't get an entirely clear picture but it seems there's a chance that strict rule interpretation is pushing us towards pedestrian gates for where ION is crossing sidewalks. So that would be on King near the town square, and then at the Caroline diagonal. There's a scenario the mayor mentioned where as many as 16 gate arms could be required at Caroline and Erb, firing off every three minutes. Bananas.
I'm not sure how likely this is, and this would be a point to follow up with the RT team staff. The gist I got was a combination of AODA rules and heavy rail rules where the interaction of freight with Erb is being considered at the average level of traffic Erb sees (50K vpd, apparently) rather than the level of traffic Erb sees when freight is actually rolling through (5 and a half cars, by my count).
I sense there's a bit of a battle going on with this one right now. I might need a new hashtag. #gategate.