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King-Victoria Transit Hub
There are a few more interesting details about this in the Kitchener Post this week, including mention of a plan for a $150 million request from the federal government for this and also the Northfield maintenance facility.
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The Mount Hope-Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association have a new blog post on the King/Victoria Station.

There's not much in the way of updates there, but one thing to note is that they say they brought up the possibility of community space integrated into the station. Obviously that's a City responsibility, not a Regional one, but it's an interesting thought and maybe something the City should consider with this development.

I'm not sure I agree with their logic that development has been increasing, but no new community centres have been built for years. Since those community centres were built, downtown's population has mostly been shrinking. Then again, if we're hoping and planning for intensification in the future, community space is one thing that the new population will need, and this doesn't seem like a bad place for it.

I go to the Breithaupt Centre a lot, and it does seem to be well-used. I'm less sure about the community centre at Weber and Ontario. Between those two (and the downtown library, and the arena on Walter), people living around King and Victoria would seem to me to have pretty good access to community resources. But we don't want them to be overburdened, and maybe some new community space more tailored to the changing needs of the community would be called for. I would have no idea of how much and what exactly would be justified.
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I don't know what criteria the City uses to determine whether neighbourhood community centres are needed, but I would have thought that the old Electrohome factory on Shanley would be a better location in this case. The transit hub is too close to the Downtown centre to make sense, imho.
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That’s a really interesting idea, though really the Electrohome building isn’t far from Breithaupt, either. I have never heard that proposed, though. There might be some serious impediments (the ground contamination, for one…) but if there is a need identified for a new community centre in the area, and the City continues to struggle to sell the property, it might be worth exploring.
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The neighbourhood association has another blog post related to this, this time again concerning Waterloo Street. They have a scale drawing of the substation's footprint on Waterloo, and seem to be more appeased about its having been located there. The drawing suggests it won't be such an impediment as perhaps some people had thought, and of course there will be landscaping to screen it.

The post also makes mention of the potential for an overpass for accessing the terminal.
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(03-23-2016, 11:30 AM)MidTowner Wrote: The neighbourhood association has another blog post related to this, this time again concerning Waterloo Street. They have a scale drawing of the substation's footprint on Waterloo, and seem to be more appeased about its having been located there. The drawing suggests it won't be such an impediment as perhaps some people had thought, and of course there will be landscaping to screen it.

The post also makes mention of the potential for an overpass for accessing the terminal.

Why is an overpass being considered? Given the existing hill, and the need for accessibility, it seems an underpass would work much better. With an underpass, essentially one just takes the entire grade change North of the tracks instead of gradually over the entire distance between Victoria and Breithaupt as now. With an overpass, one has to go up (quite far, given the clearances required for the rail line), then back down on the other side. For people in wheelchairs, this could be the difference between one elevator trip and two (depending on the exact grades).
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(03-23-2016, 04:35 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(03-23-2016, 11:30 AM)MidTowner Wrote: The neighbourhood association has another blog post related to this, this time again concerning Waterloo Street. They have a scale drawing of the substation's footprint on Waterloo, and seem to be more appeased about its having been located there. The drawing suggests it won't be such an impediment as perhaps some people had thought, and of course there will be landscaping to screen it.

The post also makes mention of the potential for an overpass for accessing the terminal.

Why is an overpass being considered? Given the existing hill, and the need for accessibility, it seems an underpass would work much better. With an underpass, essentially one just takes the entire grade change North of the tracks instead of gradually over the entire distance between Victoria and Breithaupt as now. With an overpass, one has to go up (quite far, given the clearances required for the rail line), then back down on the other side. For people in wheelchairs, this could be the difference between one elevator trip and two (depending on the exact grades).

If something is to be built, IMO a bridge allows one to be seen while using this crossing. It is better than taking a tunnel where one is isolated on a likely low use connection. My position is a bridge or tunnel is a very expensive solution for a few hundred homes. There is no user reason to build a bridge or tunnel without data that justifies such a high cost.
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This diagram seems to suggest that the station itself will extend past Waterloo Street and that access to the north platform would be provided by an underpass at Waterloo Street as well as on either side of King.

[Image: sHGeD.png]
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Once the dome comes down, it'll be interesting to see how "future proof" the train bridge is. My hope and expectation is that we'll see two large platform rough-ins on both sides (basically just wide concrete slabs).
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(03-25-2016, 02:25 PM)jamincan Wrote: This diagram seems to suggest that the station itself will extend past Waterloo Street and that access to the north platform would be provided by an underpass at Waterloo Street as well as on either side of King.

[Image: sHGeD.png]

Thanks for the information
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(03-25-2016, 02:13 PM)MacBerry Wrote:
(03-23-2016, 04:35 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Why is an overpass being considered? Given the existing hill, and the need for accessibility, it seems an underpass would work much better. With an underpass, essentially one just takes the entire grade change North of the tracks instead of gradually over the entire distance between Victoria and Breithaupt as now. With an overpass, one has to go up (quite far, given the clearances required for the rail line), then back down on the other side. For people in wheelchairs, this could be the difference between one elevator trip and two (depending on the exact grades).

If something is to be built, IMO a bridge allows one to be seen while using this crossing. It is better than taking a tunnel where one is isolated on a likely low use connection. My position is a bridge or tunnel is a very expensive solution for a few hundred homes. There is no user reason to build a bridge or tunnel without data that justifies such a high cost.

Safety for individuals using the connection does need to be considered. However, it needs to be considered in context and balanced off against other criteria. In this specific context, one end of the tunnel would essentially be right in the bus terminal area, at the grade of Victoria Street, and the other could rise up to grade immediately North of the tracks. So we’re not talking about a long and isolated tunnel. The whole thing is at a busy site. One elevator rather than two also reduces the number of hidden areas. With a bridge there is an area that can only be reached (and left) by stairs/elevator. With the tunnel both parts — above and below the stairs/elevator — can be reached (and left) without changing elevation. Additionally, the tunnel is more useable and so may attract more traffic, helping to avoid the issue of a low-traffic connection
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Adding a handful of CCTV cameras to the underpass tunnel would be an inexpensive way to improve security, too.

All things being equal, I would choose the overpass. But all things are not equal here, as has been explained by multiple posters, so the underpass really makes more sense.
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I don't quite understand how "one elevator vs. two reduced the number of hidden areas" - can you elaborate?
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I think it's simply that with one elevator, there's one elevator to hide in. And with 2 elevators, there are 2 elevators to hide in.
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(03-27-2016, 02:23 AM)GtwoK Wrote: I think it's simply that with one elevator, there's one elevator to hide in. And with 2 elevators, there are 2 elevators to hide in.

That is exactly what I am thinking. Although I think the fact that both sides of the single elevator are accessible without any grade change is actually more important — if we can make one elevator safe, we can make two elevators safe. But the space between the elevators remains isolated.

I think a tunnel which is at grade at one end is much different from some situation where one has to go down to the tunnel, across, and up the other side. I suspect this is true both of perception and the reality of safety. Also I anticipate that the tunnel would have side passages leading to the accesses for the second platform, so it’s not just a single enclosed space.
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