Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[ijmorlan]

I had just written a huge rant back and decided to scrap it, basically saying (less eloquently) what you just said.

Multiple bus rides to a train station, then a train ride between KW and Guelph, then multiple bus rides on the other end.  20 minute drive becomes a 2 hour ordeal.  No one is going to do that.  It would be cute, sure.  But that's it - still have the last mile issue.

Downtown Guelph and Downtown Kitchener are about 20km apart by rail.  When the line is upgraded and electrified the travel time could be around 10 minutes.  With LRT on the Kitchener-Waterloo side and Guelph slowly moving towards BRT, transit between key destinations should be quite reasonable and competitive with driving (consider travel between: U of G, Downtown Guelph, Downtown Kitchener, Uptown Waterloo, UW / WLU).

(Also, what 20 minute drive?  Downtown to downtown takes me 30-35 minutes.  When the divided highway is eventually built, there will be more congestion in the cores from population growth and induced demand.  How much will that negate the time shaved off the drive through farmland?)

This is the exact sort of strategic thinking I’m trying to look at. Instead of just observing a busy highway and deciding that it must be expanded, really ask what the actual real-world consequences will be of various possible actions.