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Trails
One of our own getting some press from the Record:

Quote:Local cyclist Michael Druker posted a photo of one of the benches on Twitter, prompting several positive reviews and hundreds of likes. "We love these! It's the kind of planning that takes a city from good enough to awesome," said one. "Very cool," said another.
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/907...-upgrades/
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Work crews were grading for the MUT on the west side of King between Northfield and Conestogo yesterday. Wonder if we'll get that this year yet?
...K
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Seriously?! I’ve literally been tweeting about that for like 2 years trying to get an answer about what’s going on.

I’ll have to go take a photo this weekend and add to my thread.
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Well that is great news, communication, has been seriously lacking.

There are still issues however, there's a section that is a sidewalk, 1.5 meter concrete, that has "shared path" signage...and intersections are just terrible.

I sure wish they'd communicate their plans.
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The section you’re thinking of is on the West side of King (South of Conestogo) - if you transition to the East side (LRT Station) it’s paved. As I’m always riding between Northfield and the Forwell trail, it doesn’t matter to me where I cross... but if you were headed down the East side where say the Waterloo Inn is, I can see how it would be a bit annoying if you happened across a pedestrian.

(I smiled when I saw the “Shared Pathway” sign on a sidewalk - I actually wish there were more of them, as an interm solution to having MUT’s literally everywhere.)
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(12-11-2018, 02:36 PM)Canard Wrote: The section you’re thinking of is on the West side of King (South of Conestogo) - if you transition to the East side (LRT Station) it’s paved. As I’m always riding between Northfield and the Forwell trail, it doesn’t matter to me where I cross... but if you were headed down the East side where say the Waterloo Inn is, I can see how it would be a bit annoying if you happened across a pedestrian.

(I smiled when I saw the “Shared Pathway” sign on a sidewalk - I actually wish there were more of them, as an interm solution to having MUT’s literally everywhere.)

I think you mean the west side,...

In any case, I was meaning down by Weber St., which I was up at on Thursday last week, and it still appeared to be a sidewalk.

As for shared path markings on sidewalks, while at this point, I pretty much cycle on the sidewalk as a rule any time I feel the road is unsafe, and as much as I hate this type of policy WRPS basically will not ticket sidewalk cycling outside of the downtown cores, I'm a bit concerned with the idea of formalizing it.  It fear it would be used as an excuse not to implement real bike infra.  Although, maybe it makes no difference.
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On a place like Fairway and alongside Courtland*, I wish they'd just put up some "Shared Pathway" signs on the sidewalk, as an interim solution. Hespeler Road and Victoria are also perfect candidates. All but the bravest 1% could never cycle on those roads.

* - By the way, GrandLinq has now closed the brand new fancy sidewalk/MUT beside the LRT tracks on Courtland, from Block Line to Shelley. No reason given.
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(12-11-2018, 06:22 PM)Canard Wrote: * - By the way, GrandLinq has now closed the brand new fancy sidewalk/MUT beside the LRT tracks on Courtland, from Block Line to Shelley.  No reason given.

A lot of its pedestrian traffic is surely St. Mary's students. Perhaps the administration there has a safety concern?
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(12-11-2018, 06:22 PM)Canard Wrote: On a place like Fairway and alongside Courtland*, I wish they'd just put up some "Shared Pathway" signs on the sidewalk, as an interim solution.  Hespeler Road and Victoria are also perfect candidates.  All but the bravest 1% could never cycle on those roads.

* - By the way, GrandLinq has now closed the brand new fancy sidewalk/MUT beside the LRT tracks on Courtland, from Block Line to Shelley.  No reason given.

Heh, Victoria doesn't even have sidewalks on some sections.

Re: Courtland.

You're referring to the one on the southwest side between the ravine and the tracks right?

To clarify it was never a MUT AFAIK, always a sidewalk right, unless I'm missing something?

As far as it being closed, I'm not surprised, it was, perhaps...the best example of what not to do for social safety, lock people in between two fences, in an narrow area, that was shockingly bad.  Then the connection at Shelley had issues too...
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(12-11-2018, 10:07 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-11-2018, 06:22 PM)Canard Wrote: On a place like Fairway and alongside Courtland*, I wish they'd just put up some "Shared Pathway" signs on the sidewalk, as an interim solution.  Hespeler Road and Victoria are also perfect candidates.  All but the bravest 1% could never cycle on those roads.

* - By the way, GrandLinq has now closed the brand new fancy sidewalk/MUT beside the LRT tracks on Courtland, from Block Line to Shelley.  No reason given.

Heh, Victoria doesn't even have sidewalks on some sections.

Re: Courtland.

You're referring to the one on the southwest side between the ravine and the tracks right?

To clarify it was never a MUT AFAIK, always a sidewalk right, unless I'm missing something?

As far as it being closed, I'm not surprised, it was, perhaps...the best example of what not to do for social safety, lock people in between two fences, in an narrow area, that was shockingly bad.  Then the connection at Shelley had issues too...

I always treated that little stretch like it was a MUP, I dunno where else they expect cyclists to go if you're coming from Block Line there's no room in traffic on Courtland if it's busy and Shelley connects up to a bunch of very nice cycling routes to different areas of the city.
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(12-11-2018, 11:13 PM)clasher Wrote:
(12-11-2018, 10:07 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Heh, Victoria doesn't even have sidewalks on some sections.

Re: Courtland.

You're referring to the one on the southwest side between the ravine and the tracks right?

To clarify it was never a MUT AFAIK, always a sidewalk right, unless I'm missing something?

As far as it being closed, I'm not surprised, it was, perhaps...the best example of what not to do for social safety, lock people in between two fences, in an narrow area, that was shockingly bad.  Then the connection at Shelley had issues too...

I always treated that little stretch like it was a MUP, I dunno where else they expect cyclists to go if you're coming from Block Line there's no room in traffic on Courtland if it's busy and Shelley connects up to a bunch of very nice cycling routes to different areas of the city.

Well, they expect cyclists to do the same thing they do at every other missing link in our infrastructure, ride on the busy dangerous road and try not to die.  Of course, really, they didn't give a single thought to what cyclists should do, there's a good chance those who designed the road didn't even know Shelley had cycling routes.

Of course, given the pedestrian situation they didn't give much thought to pedestrians either.

Realistically, you, I, and most cyclists would use the sidewalk...probably including WRPS.
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I think we can all agree that one thing our city (Kitchener) has lacked, is a real commitment to cycling and walking as a means of real transportation, not just recreation.  I urge everyone to fill out the on line survey being conducted by Kitchener with respect to recreation facilities. I highlighted the need for continuous trails and networks that keep bikes off the road period.

It is time to press our councillors as well that this is a real issue, and that people are looking to biking as an alternative to driving.

For the record, I am not a bicycle enthusiast (yet) but I recognize the value of investing heavily in this area of infrastructure and I support it.

https://www.engagewr.ca/play
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I believe Vrbanovic highlighted continuous cycle routes as a priority going forward when the session of Kitchener city council opened, so I am cautiously optimistic we will see some progress. Something as simple as signage would go a long way to improving the situation.
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Is there a map somewhere showing all existing cycling infrastructure in the region?
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If you could almost but not quite finish your plate of nicely chopped up spaghetti, you might find it there.
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