General Road and Highway Discussion

[ijmorlan]

I wasn't sure if this finally deserves it's own thread now that they are officially studying the Lancaster train crossing issue so I'll put it here for now.

Region seeking ways to improve Lancaster Street railway crossing
https://kitchener.citynews.ca/local-news...ng-5811362


With the tracks so close to the intersection I don't see how an underpass or overpass would work here. It almost seems like it would be easier to move the yard somewhere else? Maybe some land out in the business park area along Bingeman or Shirley? I know nothing of what a train yard involves and imagine moving one is not a trivial endeavour.

Simplest, best, and by far the cheapest approach is simply to close the crossing to vehicular traffic, keeping it for bicycles and pedestrians only. Build a grade-separation for active transportation, or don’t, or not yet, or realize that such a grade separation is of insignificant cost compared to one for vehicles and just do it — the big problem is what the crossing does to motor vehicle traffic, not with having a level crossing as such. This one is much worse for traffic than typical ones because it is within the area affected by yard switching movements so it is less predictable and sometimes closes the crossing for significant periods of time.

This would enormously improve Lancaster St. E., which is not meant to take significant amounts of traffic, not to mention the intersection of Lancaster, Krug, and Cedar which does not work well with significant amounts of traffic coming down Lancaster.

There is an existing bridge 2 blocks South (West) at Margaret, and a planned underpass to the North (East) immediately next to the expressway which will connect Wellington with Edna. These two routes provide alternates for any existing trip that might use the Lancaster St. crossing. Note that the correct comparison is not between being at David’s Fries and crossing to the dental office at Victoria and Lancaster; the appropriate comparison is between alternate routes between typical points further away.

Also rename Otto St. to Margaret Ave. so people on Frederick realize that they can get to Margaret that way.