General Road and Highway Discussion

[mpd618]

A large new electronic signboard has gone up on eastbound Highway 7/8 between Fischer-Hallman and Homer Watson. First one for the area, I think.

[KevinL]

Ottawa South is closed at the Conestoga Parkway for the weekend as the old eastbound parkway overpass is demolished. Last one to go!

[Smore]

LOL, Outhit posted a retraction!  Now, when will he admit all his other "misleading" opinion pieces!

http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5...re-coming/

[GtwoK]

It would appear the city is gearing up to start on the Homer Watson / Ottawa and Alpine / Ottawa roundabouts soon. Official plans list their construction as subject to completion of Hwy7/8 in the area, but with the EB bridges still destroyed, I guess they're starting early!

[Spokes]

Makes sense for them to start early while everything's already torn up.

I've always been amazed that projects that overlap the same areas don't get coordinated more often to minimize the impact on the public.

[Pheidippides]

A really infuriating by one of the community editorial board members, Joyce Hodge, about the planned traffic calming on Westheights Dr in Kitchener.
Avoid using taxpayers’ dollars on pet projects

Her main concern is that the proposal will, "radically calm our four-lane street into a two-lane street by eliminating parking on one side and adding bike lanes and buffers on each side" and the the most contentious part of the plan is. "the proposed implementation of single-side parking."

As far as I can tell though from the city's report is, the parking remains as status quo with parking allowed on one side, with the major change being losing a driving lane each direction and the addition of bike lanes in both directions.

A quick look via Google street view shows that most homes on Westheights have two driveways and double garage or storage for 4 vehicles. If homeowners need more vehicle storage than that I'm not sure why that is the city's problem. I do not park my bike/bus in your driveway, so please do not park your car on the road way.

The city report also notes that the highest Annual Average Daily Traffic volume at any one intersection is 6,800 vehicles per day well within the operating capacity of a single lane, no?

It is really infuriating that this suburban mentally of right to unlimited parking at no cost persists.

[numberguy]

To play devil's advocate -- they bought a property with (for all intents and purposes) extra parking capacity (street parking). Now the rules are being changed.

[clasher]

That's kind of how it works with property that you don't own. I have no pity for these people. Most people don't even use their garages to store cars so if they need the room they should clean up their car-hole and quit whining. The city could probably make 120,000 a year off people that park on Westheights for more than 3 hours a day.

[numberguy]

It happens: people use forms of transportation on places that are against the law (bikes on sidewalks), people complain about the smell of trash in the summer when they buy or rent a property or business near the local dump, the airport gets complaints from people who live in the flight path.

If you have a complaint, you make it. It's part of the public consultation process.

I'm not saying the residents are right or wrong. I am saying that bought into a property with certain amenities. One of those amenities is being taken away. I can understand why some of those people would complain. Pity has nothing to do with it. It is not in my place nor anyone else's to tell someone what they should or shouldn't do with their garage. It's their property.

Perhaps the residents, having shovelled/mowed the lawn next to the street/weeded the law feel some sort of quasi-ownership. Other jurisdictions have this in varying degrees -- try parking for an extended period of time in front of a residence in many neighbourhoods in Boston and you're basically asking for your car to get vandalized.

[tomh009]

Pheippides' point was that most of the people do have a double-car garage and a double driveway, so storage capability for 4-6 cars. They may be losing the opportunity to use the street for additional car storage (or for curbsiding used cars?) but the remaining capacity is certainly still very reasonable for single-family residential.

Sure, they have the right to complain, we do have free speech. But I don't have much sympathy for them, either.

[numberguy]

I would contend that they, as residents on the street in question, have more at stake than any of us do. I don't think they really want or care about or sympathy.

[BuildingScout]

I would contend that they, as residents on the street in question, have more at stake than any of us do.   I don't think they really want or care about or sympathy.

They live in a democracy, so they need to get the votes. If they don't care about public opinion they are bound to loose. Their choice.

[tomh009]

I would contend that they, as residents on the street in question, have more at stake than any of us do.   I don't think they really want or care about or sympathy.

This is the basic NIMBY principle at work.

[notmyfriends]

The part that's missing here is that, having grown up in Forest Heights myself, never ever ever ever have I seen that street with solid parking on both sides. Hard to imagine having parking on only one side even coming close to inconveniencing someone in a measurable way. It's a nonsense complaint.

[tomh009]

The part that's missing here is that, having grown up in Forest Heights myself, never ever ever ever have I seen that street with solid parking on both sides. Hard to imagine having parking on only one side even coming close to inconveniencing someone in a measurable way. It's a nonsense complaint.

A much more balanced story in Kitchener Post:
http://www.kitchenerpost.ca/news/neighbo...c-calming/