12-16-2016, 11:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-16-2016, 11:06 PM by danbrotherston.)
(12-16-2016, 09:36 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: We, myself included are often quick with criticism and suggestions for improvement, so for a change of pace I would like to congratulate the City of Waterloo, so far, on maintaining the majority its trails on a pretty timely basis (at least the sections of the ones that I've used since the snow has flown: IHT, Spur, Laurel mostly). Obviously there is always room for improvement, but it has been a decent response, relatively speaking, to a challenging start to the season so far. The section of the MUT along Caroline got missed after the first big dumping, and the path between the City Centre parking lot and the creek regularly gets cleared, but then gets infilled with snow from the adjacent parking lot, but small wins are progress nonetheless.
In a different train of thought, I wonder if it is time that we stop calling our active transportation paths, like the Spurline and Iron Horse "trails" and instead call start calling them "thruways" or something more descriptive of the function they carry-out. "Trail" comes with a connotation of rugged and wild, something that requires specialized equipment and time to meander and explore. So when they go unploughed, unmaintained, and fall in to disrepair it is kind of living up to its name and fitting with preconceived expectations of its name. The general public then fails to see problems with the trails because after all, aren't those the very qualities part of the appeal, challenge, and fun of taking the "trail?" Borrowing a term like thruway or expressway or something else from the broader transportation network implies a higher level of expectations of service (e.g. lighting, plowing, etc.).
This would fit well with something someone suggested pages and pages ago that the trails actually be made a special kind of limited access road. An expressway is a kind of road limited to certain types of vehicles (e.g. no mopeds, no cyclists, no pedestrians, etc.). Trails could just be a different kind of road limited to a different set of vehicle types (cyclists, pedestrians, etc.) and with that would come a certain expectations and requirements for lighting, clearing, markings, etc.
Your experiences have clearly been more positive than mine. So far, my commute home tonight has been the only time that most of my route has been plowed *AND* I haven't been locked out (literally, by a gate with a padlock). However, there were still substantial problems with road plows creating snow berms at the end of trails, and the MUT along Caroline is not being plowed to an appropriate width (its' being treated like a sidewalk, instead of a MUT which has upset a number of pedestrians). And the connecting trail at the end of Carter Ave. seems not to even be plowed, as it hasn't been touched at all. All told, I'm pretty disappointed, the only thing that is worse than the city's trails IMO has been property owner cleared sidewalks. Yes, I'm aware the weather has been pretty bad, but the roads have been well maintained, it's a matter of policy, not ability.
That being said, I agree, we have to change everything around our trails policy, naming included. We don't all have the same understanding of the meaning of a name, there are plenty of people who understand trails to be something exclusively recreational. A new name might go a long way to helping overcome this.