04-20-2017, 01:30 PM
(04-20-2017, 12:45 PM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: I think (rightly) that the aim for this trail is to make a north-of-Victoria connection. The IHT bulges away from the transit terminal itself, so there is some logic in having connections a bit shorter in distance but farther from Victoria itself. Coming from the south, between Queen/King, or Victoria Park/Water/King, there's already a pretty effective routing for bikes (I take it myself). This connection, if located a bit north of Victoria along any alignment near to what's been described, would help with connections from the north side (gasp! so close to Waterloo! Why should a Kitchener trail be designed to benefit Waterloo? *rabblerabblerabble*).
Personally, I've never found the routes you describe as "effective"...I'm either fighting unpleasantly aggressive cars on Queen St. (despite traveling basically at the speed of traffic, I frequently get honked at), or going through the park, where I both feel like a nuisance, and, am forced to slow down considerably to avoid actually being one. Neither situation seems acceptable to me.
But I am biased in that I live just off Victoria St.
In any case, in the grand scheme of things, I don't care so much where it ends up so long as it is a high quality route, having *any* good commuter connection to downtown is an improvement over now. And to be honest, most of the possible routes would be good, if the actual details are well implemented. And even a direct route like Victoria St. could be very poor if the details are wrong. I really wish we paid more attention to details....
As for the Kitchener/Waterloo issue, thankfully in this case, it's entirely moot, as it's being built by the region.