ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[kps]

The aforementioned wooden pole in front of Wildfire:

Someone in a wheelchair needs to file a complaint. There is nothing more awesome (from a safe distance) than a bureaucrat fight.

[timc]

It looks like there is enough room to wheel around the left side of that pole.

[KevinL]

If I can break into the discussion a bit, I have photos from this morning! I took a bit of a hike along Ottawa and Charles this morning, from Mill to about Cameron.

First, new work at the Mill intersection.

[KevinL]

But the real heavy work starts at Courtland.

[KevinL]

And it continues right around the corner onto Charles.





Oh look, here's the Borden track.

[KevinL]

And now, the highlight of the day - pouring Borden Station platform!

[MacBerry]

They say that the only stupid question is the one not ask, so here goes.  Why are any fences required for the ION?

Because arguing with legal departments is a pain, I'm guessing.

Remember who really runs all our public corporations and sets the policy ... insurance companies.

[KevinL]

A few last tidbits.

The Stirling intersection.


North from Stirling.


Fresh curbs.

[rangersfan]

Thanks for all the pictures everyone!

[panamaniac]

It would be interesting to be able to jump ahead 10 or 20 years to re-visit the Stirling-Charles-Borden areas shown in those photos. I'm hoping for a wonderful transformation!

[megabytephreak]

OMG, I can't believe anyone with any sense of design would say they like the above wooden pole more than a steel or concrete one.  I can't even.

I'm pretty convinced that the wooden poles on King north of William (eg. in front of Wildfire) are temporary, so I'm not concerned. Probably to ensure continuity of service while they do the underground work. There were no poles on this stretch of King before construction. In this location, right in the middle of a sidewalk, any pole would be ugly, no matter the material.

On a residential street where there have always been above ground poles, I don't have an issue with them. I think underground is strictly better, but it does come at a cost, which is not generally economical to retrofit unless the density of the area is high.

[chutten]

FWIW, earth-moving work's been progressing in Uptown Waterloo. Looks like they're grading the surface they've widened adjacent to the existing spur, preparing to realign and lay rail.

[Canard]

Unfortunately, it looks like we're getting black chain-link fencing through Waterloo Park.  

<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooPrk">@WaterlooPrk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain">@Canardiain</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KenSeiling">@KenSeiling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/citywaterloo">@citywaterloo</a> 1/2 black chain link fencing will be installed to protect pedsfrom LRT and freight</p>&mdash; ION (@rideIONrt) <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/722842018171396096">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote>

<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooPrk">@WaterlooPrk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain">@Canardiain</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KenSeiling">@KenSeiling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/citywaterloo">@citywaterloo</a> 2/2 post cntrc. and LRV testing, some fencing may be decor, city and Regdiscuss optns.</p>&mdash; ION (@rideIONrt) <a href="https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/722842383658778626">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote>


I've got a contact on the inside, who I'll try and probe for some more detail on this - sounds like the black chain-link fencing might be temporary just for LRV testing along the spur, and then get replaced at a later date with something better.

It will be 1.5m high (5 feet).

[KevinL]

Interesting that they say 'and freight' - there's been no fence on the line for decades now, suddenly we have to protect people?

At least it's only 5 feet. I'd prefer 3 or 4, but that's reasonable.

[Canard]

It's because now freight can run much faster through there (30-40 km/h). They didn't need a fence before when running at 10 km/h. Although I don't see them running at 40 km/h through the gauntlets.

http://m.waterloochronicle.ca/news-story...ence-us-in

And yeah, I suppose I can live with the height... Should be able to still get good video over that. Maybe I don't have to abandon all support for the project yet... Will have to fester and stew for a bit and see. : grumble :