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Cycling in Waterloo Region
To better encourage cycling our Waterloo Region cities and individual businesses need to do like they do in Copenhagen ... 

[Image: neMFpfS.jpg]
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(12-26-2018, 09:14 PM)MacBerry Wrote: To better encourage cycling our Waterloo Region cities and individual businesses need to do like they do in Copenhagen ... 

[Image: neMFpfS.jpg]

Yep. That would be awesome. Some stores really don't provide any bike parking at all. My favourite example is the Shoppers Drug Mart on Bridgeport and Weber.
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Margaret St. Bridge, heading North:

   

Google Street View Link

I wish we could get some Flex Bollards here, for just this section. Many times when I cycle through here there's a car stopped in the Bike Lane here for a pickup, and it's a very dangerous spot to do it.
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(12-28-2018, 10:14 AM)Canard Wrote: I wish we could get some Flex Bollards here, for just this section.  Many times when I cycle through here there's a car stopped in the Bike Lane here for a pickup, and it's a very dangerous spot to do it.

I’d prefer concrete or metal bollards capable of stopping a concrete truck. But that’s just me.
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(12-28-2018, 10:14 AM)Canard Wrote: Margaret St. Bridge, heading North:



Google Street View Link

I wish we could get some Flex Bollards here, for just this section.  Many times when I cycle through here there's a car stopped in the Bike Lane here for a pickup, and it's a very dangerous spot to do it.

Bollards might work but they'd have to be dense.  There should have been a loading zone but at this point bollards are a cheap option to give it a try.
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Bollards would probably prevent the lanes getting plowed in the winter. If there wasn't a gap in the fence at the north side I imagine there'd be less motivation to park on the street.
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(12-28-2018, 01:04 PM)clasher Wrote: Bollards would probably prevent the lanes getting plowed in the winter. If there wasn't a gap in the fence at the north side I imagine there'd be less motivation to park on the street.

Not having a gap would make the restaurant much less walkable. 

As for plowing, they could still plow using sidewalk plows, or remove the bollards in winter, and that's if you even believe the lanes get plowed today.
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(12-28-2018, 01:16 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-28-2018, 01:04 PM)clasher Wrote: Bollards would probably prevent the lanes getting plowed in the winter. If there wasn't a gap in the fence at the north side I imagine there'd be less motivation to park on the street.

Not having a gap would make the restaurant much less walkable. 

As for plowing, they could still plow using sidewalk plows, or remove the bollards in winter, and that's if you even believe the lanes get plowed today.

I presume removing flex bollards would be easy. Steel bollards need a more complex solution, and concrete ones are really not practical to remove.

Incidentally, our condo building had steel bollards between the driveway and the entrance. When they kept getting knocked down by trucks, we replaced them with granite boulders. No such problem now ...
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(12-28-2018, 01:04 PM)clasher Wrote: Bollards would probably prevent the lanes getting plowed in the winter. If there wasn't a gap in the fence at the north side I imagine there'd be less motivation to park on the street.

Raise the bicycle lanes to the level of the sidewalk. Then both can be plowed all at once.

Agreed with the other commenter about removing the gap; we don’t remove pedestrian accesses to property in order to prevent cars stopping at the pedestrian accesses.
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(12-28-2018, 03:20 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(12-28-2018, 01:04 PM)clasher Wrote: Bollards would probably prevent the lanes getting plowed in the winter. If there wasn't a gap in the fence at the north side I imagine there'd be less motivation to park on the street.

Raise the bicycle lanes to the level of the sidewalk. Then both can be plowed all at once.

Agreed with the other commenter about removing the gap; we don’t remove pedestrian accesses to property in order to prevent cars stopping at the pedestrian accesses.

Pedestrian access would be 10 metres down the road; hardly removed. I don't think they should close the gap though, just saying if they'd put a solid fence in front of the place it would be like a lot of other buildings that only have one entrance on the parking lot side.

Also I think it's kind of ridiculous to spend a bunch of public money so someone driving for uber-eats can make more money by having a loading zone in front of the place when there's a big parking lot right beside the place they should be using.
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'Dutch roundabout' among $1M in cycling improvements proposed in Kitchener budget
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I don't know much about Dutch roundabouts but apparently they can be designed to work really well or not. I hope the city gets it right for the first one and can apply the lessons to future roundabouts.

Also excited to see talk of a new bridge for the IHT... the wood on the one near Vic park is getting pretty slick sometimes and I hope they choose a different deck for a new one.
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I'm glad they're trying something new. Although the location is curious
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(01-07-2019, 10:44 PM)Spokes Wrote: I'm glad they're trying something new. Although the location is curious

I think the location makes sense, Huron Rd. has a MUT along it, and Strasbourg Rd. just had one built (I think it's done), so the configuration is right, and this makes a major intersection safe, which connects a ton of housing, with schools, employment areas, parks, and if you squint, the rest of KW Tongue

it's also a major enough intersection to prove and test out the concept of a dutch roundabout, but it's still between two city road, so the city can do it without working with the region.  It's probably the biggest roundabout the city owns.
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Ya that's a good point. Maybe it makes more sense than I initially realized.
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