Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[danbrotherston]

You're missing the point. We ALREADY have an investment in roads. We already have a highway (that I think should be improved) between Guelph and KW. We are building a second highway. If this was the only car route between the two cities, I'd be a lot less negative about it. I'd still argue that transit or cycling should come first, but at least you have an argument that something has to come first. Instead we are seeing the situation where driving between the two cities is the only option being further entrenched.

Your right there is a road that has existed since the population of these two city centres we under 100k, absolutely no need to invest in an actual grade separated HWY.  There are already buses to cambridge we shouldn't build the LRT. There is already VIA serving kitchener to toronto no need to invest in GO Trains. There is already a Hospital no need to build a new Hospital. We already have parks no need to invest in new parks. We already have roads and sidewalks no need to invest in new MUT's. We already have schools no need to build new schools. We already have libraries no need to build new libraries. 

Just to be clear, I am absolutely pro-public transit and bike lanes. Absolutely love to see governments finally investing in this type of infrastructure after years of no investment. That doesn't mean I can't see the economic benefit of connecting Kitchener/ Waterloo to Guelph. Personal vehicles are not the only ones to use this HWY. Guelph has a huge amount of Manufacturing at the north end of the city.

I'm not saying we cannot improve things, I'm saying that continuing to improve driving doesn't make sense when we still have ZERO transit options.

I find it hard to take your rebuttal in good faith, because none of the examples are analogous. Lets take your schools example. You say "schools" as if all schools are the same. But for example, if the city only had private schools, and we were building more private schools, while still having no public schools, meaning that many children in the region could not attend school at all, you'd certainly find that problematic right? That's what we're doing with this road right now. We have a road, which provides access for those with cars, those without cars, have no access right now. And instead of fixing that, we are instead, adding more capacity for those with cars.

I also saying that we shouldn't be spending money increasing capacity on roads, because that is a choice that will not improve the future prosperity of our city. But that is a separate argument.