08-18-2016, 01:50 PM
(08-17-2016, 08:34 PM)Canard Wrote:(08-17-2016, 06:40 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: This is a problem that can be solved technically fairly easily, with some creativity.
I don't think anyone doubts that. From an infrastructure standpoint, it's dead easy. The point I'm making is that what seems easy to us, isn't, because of all the red tape and rules and regulations on the "other side" that forbids things like this for reasons that are not apparent to us, as armchair civil engineers and city planners.
(08-17-2016, 06:40 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: In the event bureaucrats (Transport Canada) get in the way, officially have the trail detour to the path immediately north of the parking garage from King to the laneway. In any case, install an excellent crossing of King St. right at the tracks.
I can't imagine that the Region would actually undertake any form of construction or upgrading of the path here to turn it into a "non-official trail" and somehow try to lie to Transport Canada that "No no, it's not really a trail! Honest!".
[....]
Think of it this way: Look at all the fencing along the Waterloo Spur. It's there because of the same one freight train at night that goes through that gap in the buildings between Regina and King. So, if it was ok to have people walking along the tracks there, why on Earth would TC require all these fences along the spur? It doesn't add up.
I agree that it doesn’t add up. That’s what is annoying about this: why can’t safety decisions be made using the same sort of reasonable thoughtful procedure that is (at best) used to decide things like where the doors, windows, and walls of a building will go? Instead there are arbitrary rules that nobody seems to understand that are enforced strictly, even when they aren’t just a little off, but have no connection at all to their supposed purpose.
Re: the King-to-Regina segment, a crossing where the tracks cross King is a natural choice, whether or not the trail continues between the buildings. Detouring minimally to just north of the parking garage, and only for half a block, is also natural. And finally, paving the space between the buildings is natural to keep dust down in a downtown location. The fact that people won’t stay out of there is just nature.
I agree that any thought of embedding the tracks or even gap fillers does indeed rely on approval.