09-08-2018, 04:18 PM
(09-08-2018, 03:51 PM)jamincan Wrote: That said, the new promenade in Waterloo Park is fantastic and seems to be working well from what I have seen. Much better separation of pedestrians and cyclists than what I've seen in downtown Barrie. The fact that it has a clear barrier on both sides may help - there's not much reason for a pedestrian to want to get on the cyclist part of the trail. I also think the fence along the tracks there isn't nearly as bad as it seemed initially. I'm sure something nicer could have been done, but this isn't so bad. I don't recall now that I'm at home - is there any planting or something similar between the fence and the trail? A hedge could soften the impact of the fence.
There is grass and small trees between the trail and the fence. Inside the fence there is a variety of plants, including long grasses and I believe I saw some cattails growing in the ditch. Depending on what policy is adopted for cutting back growth in the right-of-way, there is a good chance the fence will almost disappear amongst the plant growth.
I agree that trail is working pretty well. They should have had the signs indicating pedestrians and bicycles installed before opening (given the delays, that should have been no problem), but the actual signage I think is pretty clear and is present in 10 locations along the path (both ends of the segregated section plus before and after every access to the trail). I don’t recall seeing anybody in the wrong lane since the signs were installed. So overall I’m very pleased. The scheduling mishaps won’t matter in the long run.