ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[KevinL]

Track has been laid out and secured to crossties between Queen and Benton, on Charles. The custom curved pieces are more roughly laid through the Queen intersection. Another stretch of straight track will be needed from Queen to Ontario - but once that is supplied, we have all the necessary track from Francis to Cedar along Charles!

[Section ThirtyOne]

From the CBC this morning: Pedestrian safety near LRT construction sites galls residents

It's certainly true that foot access around the construction zones in the core has been pretty poor. There's likely no way around it, though. I've had attempts to get around frustrated by the fact that the access gives no consideration for anyone who might be using wheels. But I can't usually think of a way that the shifting construction zones could be made more accessible. If GrandLinq tried to provide only access that was completely accessible, it would probably mean restricting access a lot more than it is. A lot of the paths they provide will necessarily only be useful for the able-bodied and unencumbered.

That's really interesting. We live at Duke & Water, and the road crossings and pedestrian walkways around here are a hot mess, and have been for months. Like someone in that article said, it's a new adventure every day! That said, last night (so, Sunday) at around 8-9pm there were a couple of guys working to fix up the fences, raking the gravel paths to be smoother and free of bigger debris and rocks etc. My husband and I were a little bamboozled that they were working so late on a Sunday night tidying things up when they've never really bothered before, but now I suppose it was in response to this media scrutiny!

When we lived at the Seagram Lofts during the initial phase of construction along Caroline, pedestrian crossings were quite poor and seemed more an afterthought than anything. After several residents complained, proper pathways were installed very quickly, which demonstrates to me that Grandlinq is open to constructive criticism.

[GtwoK]

constructive criticism.

[GtwoK]

Walked a very long distance today. I kept setting a short goal, then when I got there, I saw more construction goodies up ahead, had to keep going further!

A very large hole at Victoria / King. Seems water works have started here now! The scale isn't really captured in this photo - that concrete piping laying along the bottom of the pit is at least 6 feet tall!



Communications ducts for Ion are being laid along in front of the Kaufman lofts. They really are speeding along on this section. I'm wondering if they might even finish the Northbound track from Water to Victoria ahead of schedule - sure looks like it so far!



Not pictured - all traffic poles (and almost all trafiic signals) are in at all intersections along Charles, between Victoria and Benton now. My bet is that as soon as the track is laid near the Benton station, Charles will reopen. Only 2 weeks to go, if that's the case!

I'm wondering what they'll do with the sidewalk here at Charles / Benton. Hoping this tree doesn't need to come down, but it looks like it might.

[GtwoK]

Track ready to be laid across Cedar




Were these here before? Cat poles along much of Charles!



A finished Cameron / Charles



Hadn't been down to Borden in a long time. I was under the impression that track was all finished here, but it seems not! At any rate, the forms are in, so it should be done soon.



Retaining walls being put in for the Borden TPSS

[GtwoK]

Borden / Charles. I definitely thought both tracks were in here, but I guess not. Should be soon!



Really love how this curve looks



Sod going in along Borden. Apart from wires on the cat poles, this is a great glimpse of what the system will look like once it's all done and finished.



Ottawa Charles looks pretty close to getting curbs and pavement back. We're still probably a fair bit away on this one, considering how long the curved track seems to take.



Retaining walls along Ottawa. In the distance, you can see cat pole bases in (the black cylinders)

[GtwoK]

You can see the grade beginning to incline here at Waterloo / the rail tracks. I'm trying to figure out what they're doing here - closer to Duke, the 2 existing rail track split off into a third, which is heading up this new incline. The incline is also being laid in dirt, and on top of the pavement parking lot there, without having dug the pavement up first. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have demolished the parking lot first and foremost. 2nd, I'm not sure how the tracks will be arranged coming from Weber now. Seems like they'll take an S-Bend away from the Boehmer building and head up the new incline? It's all quite confusing.



Did a quick run out to the new bridge. Seems a retaining wall has gone up along side the School of Pharmacy. I wonder if that concrete one will come down - seems a little unnecessary now!



Curbs are now in at Louisa / King, extending almost down to (but stopping short of) Wellington. I'm not sure if they'll finish the curbs before repaving and opening King.



And as the final surprise of the day... CURBS have finally gone it in front of KCI! It's about time! We can look forward to King being open two-way sometime next week, I'd wager!

[Markster]

Did a quick run out to the new bridge. Seems a retaining wall has gone up along side the School of Pharmacy. I wonder if that concrete one will come down - seems a little unnecessary now!

Ugh. That new retaining wall seems to say there is no provision at all for maintaining the pre-existing pedestrian connection that used to go through there. Maybe they'll fix it when they build the Transit Hub.

[panamaniac]

I like the look of Borden Ave with proper sidewalks in place, but I wonder about the decision to put grass in the boulevards - who will maintain?

[MidTowner]

The property owners should, as with boulevards on any other street. I agree that they’re less likely to here than in more residential areas. I think concrete or, even better, a planting strip maintained by the City, would be a better idea.

[panamaniac]

I think that, at least for the narrow strip on the "west" side of the street, I would have gone for pavers.

[Canard]

I personally adore the look of the grass - brings some much needed greenery to an otherwise ugly street. It looks so much better now! I wish I'd taken some "before" photos of the wasteland that was Borden pre-ion.

[BuildingScout]

I personally adore the look of the grass - brings some much needed greenery to an otherwise ugly street. It looks so much better now! I wish I'd taken some "before" photos of the wasteland that was Borden pre-ion.

You can use google maps timeline to retrieve a picture you from before Ion, can you not?

[MidTowner]

I personally adore the look of the grass - brings some much needed greenery to an otherwise ugly street. It looks so much better now! I wish I'd taken some "before" photos of the wasteland that was Borden pre-ion.

Give it some time. That grass won't be green (actually, it won't even be grass) before too long. Unless the municipality takes it upon itself to maintain it, which is possible.

[panamaniac]

I personally adore the look of the grass - brings some much needed greenery to an otherwise ugly street. It looks so much better now! I wish I'd taken some "before" photos of the wasteland that was Borden pre-ion.

Most of Borden between Charles and Courtland looked more like an industrial back alley than a city street, prior to this construction.