ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Square]

I wonder why they are not upgrading the utilities on Courtland from Hayward to Block Line?   Maybe they have been upgraded in the last 10 or 20 years?

They don't have to move the road for the LRT in that area.  It's on the embankment on the west side so it won't get in the way of future utility work.

Thank you.

[Markster]

I was more or less referring to this.

http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2012/05/18/ott...alignment/

Aha! My old article!

When they eventually moved the northbound station to Borden, I really thought it was a missed opportunity. There's really no reason to put a track on Ottawa. It's just a vestigial remnant of an old plan.

[Canard]

Where would the track go, if not Ottawa? (Just wondering.)

[KevinL]

Where would the track go, if not Ottawa? (Just wondering.)

Per the article, all on Borden.

[Canard]

...and we know that Borden is wide enough to accommodate two tracks without expropriation?

[chutten]

UW has some OCS spreaders up on their poles:
   

This one has its wings closed, but others had them spread. I was expecting a bus, so the POV isn't the greatest.

Also seen: yellow cars which I presume are full of ballast rock, construction trailers for Engineering 6 (which will look almost identical to, and be placed alongside, Engineering 5), and the gigantic double-monolith development on Philip on the old Ontario Seed lot (couldn't find a WRC thread for the development, but I don't know its name).

[timc]

the gigantic double-monolith development on Philip on the old Ontario Seed lot (couldn't find a WRC thread for the development, but I don't know its name).

That is Icon 330.

[Markster]

...and we know that Borden is wide enough to accommodate two tracks without expropriation?

Ottawa St, at its narrowest point, is 25m wide, building to building.
Borden Ave, at its narrowest point, is 23m wide, building to building.
If the former is, apparently, wide enough to accommodate 5 lanes (4 car, 1 LRT), then the latter should be able to accommodate 4 lanes (2 car, 2 LRT)

It's tight, I agree, but so is the future situation on Ottawa.  Both are clearly achievable, but neither without some degree of expropriation.

[panamaniac]

...and we know that Borden is wide enough to accommodate two tracks without expropriation?

Ottawa St, at its narrowest point, is 25m wide, building to building.
Borden Ave, at its narrowest point, is 23m wide, building to building.
If the former is, apparently, wide enough to accommodate 5 lanes (4 car, 1 LRT), then the latter should be able to accommodate 4 lanes (2 car, 2 LRT)

It's tight, I agree, but so is the future situation on Ottawa.  Both are clearly achievable, but neither without some degree of expropriation.

Is there confirmation somewhere that Ottawa will be widened between Charles and Mill?  I can see why it might be, but I have never seen anything concrete to confirm that it's going to happen.

[Markster]

Is there confirmation somewhere that Ottawa will be widened between Charles and Mill?  I can see why it might be, but I have never seen anything concrete to confirm that it's going to happen.

Yes. It is in the Regional Transportation Master Plan. It does not have a date yet, as it was deferred until after ION construction completes. Which is weird, considering it means tearing up the street again, but that was done to ensure that ION has a timely launch.

[Canard]

So they were planing to widen it to 4 lanes, then ion happened and they paused it? Hmm. Really reads to me like they said "Whoah", and put the brakes on it knowing it would be too wide for the corridor.

[Viewfromthe42]

There's also something to be said about the potential expropriation for widening Ottawa (vs. reconfiguring) being "for cars" rather than "for ION," from a narrative point of view.

[panamaniac]

On which side of Ottawa St will ION run - the Rockway golf course side or the Schneiders side (sorry, east/west makes no sense in that location!)?

[zanate]

Here's what I've been able to dig up, from memory of presentations of ATAC and from crawling through P&W agendas.

• Ottawa between Alpine and Lackner is being entirely rebuilt in stages.
  
• Lackner to River (2016), and River to 85 (2017) are already listed in the current construction projects
  
• Pattandon to Imperial was meant to go earlier (this is the section that the Region got some flak over inadequate consultation, and a misguided suggestion to combine bike lanes with parking lanes). P&W Agenda link. Was planned for 2017. That's now listed as 2018 in current construction projects.
  
• Charles to Pattandon (just past Mill) is ION.
  
• The remaining section is 85 to Charles:
  

P&W agenda link. Scheduled for 2018-2019 construction. The widening people are wondering about will claim Corner Pub and the Farah's office, and likely some of the parking alongside City Cafe. The image below is not quite a plan view, but shows the expropriations.

Hope this helps!

[Markster]

I guess the remaining question is whether Ottawa, from Mill to Charles, will eventually be widened to 4 general traffic lanes.