Trails

[plam]

I had another chance to look at the work on Weber today. I'm suspect it's not the trail crossing yet; there are three holes in the concrete on Weber of about the same size, and it looked like they were working on sewer conduits today.

[Canard]

Was just by the area; it's definitely unrelated works. They're working their way North, cutting squares and filling them back in, at regular intervals.

[goggolor]

The Laurel Trail entrance at Uptown Waterloo (Erb & Caroline) is finally properly graded and passable by a non-mountain bike. The Laurel Trail in Waterloo Park by the Ion stop is also extended straight through to Seagram so no more bypass on Central Drive needed for cyclists/pedestrians. From what the City has said on Twitter the final paving of the trail may be pending the redesign of the Central Promenade.

[danbrotherston]

Today was passed by someone on an electric motorcycle (not an ebike) on the Iron Horse Trail. This is the third instance I've experienced being passed by a motorcycle on the IHT, that wasn't a police officer. I am not sure if this is a real problem yet, but it's certainly irksome.

Also, cars continue to use the railway tracks to access Regina from King St.

[panamaniac]

Three times on the same trail would seem to indicate a problem.

[Canard]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thanks, <a href="https://twitter.com/RegionWaterloo">@RegionWaterloo</a>, for making my commute to Cambridge basically impossible. PS, it's 2017. Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TriTAG">@TriTAG</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bikeWR?src=hash">#bikeWR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrpoli?src=hash">#wrpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/RIWxXI85lv">pic.twitter.com/RIWxXI85lv</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/861209032748662785">May 7, 2017</a></blockquote>

       

So, finally got an answer:

Update: the trail will stay closed until mid-June to rebuild it, stabilize the embankment and complete plantings. More work is required after July 1st to re-build the turtle habitat, but heavy equipment not needed.Trail will stay open during this. They are working on updating the signage. Hope that answers your questions.

[Canard]

We went to Guelph on Saturday morning to bike some of their trails.

Very nice trails in some spots... but connectivity is awful. Almost all of the road crossings look like this:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hi <a href="https://twitter.com/cityofguelph">@cityofguelph</a>, we visited from Kitchener to ride your bike trails. Most are nice but connectivity is awful. Why not notch these curbs? <a href="https://t.co/Ytqifq7WMn">pic.twitter.com/Ytqifq7WMn</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/871493006888767489">June 4, 2017</a></blockquote>

All they'd have to do is notch the curb. You have to schlep your bike over every single one of them (not much of a "gnar shredder" myself I'm afraid). Some crossings are much worse, with them being offset a hundred metres or so with no intersections nearby. Impossibly baffling for a city that touts itself as being so green and progressive! I was really surprised by this.

That being said, the trails in the North part of the city are absolutely my favourite ones I have ever ridden. Simply gorgeous.

[jwilliamson]

There's a sign on Bridgeport just after the Laurel trail crossing about moving the lights from Peppler. I don't think it has any more details.

[danbrotherston]

There's a sign on Bridgeport just after the Laurel trail crossing about moving the lights from Peppler. I don't think it has any more details.

This has been teased for a while, do you know if it mentioned a public consultation?  I was hoping to go to it.

As for crossings in Guelph, I imagine they're problematic, but we have plenty of those in our city as well:  

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4382183,-...312!8i6656

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.4365652,-...312!8i6656

These two along the same trail.

[jwilliamson]

It has a URL: www.regionofwaterloo.ca/TES . They're soliciting comments to use in a report for council on August 22.

[Markster]

It has a URL: www.regionofwaterloo.ca/TES . They're soliciting comments to use in a report for council on August 22.

I've sent in my comments. Basically this:

I should also comment that on one-way streets there is no reason based on traffic flow to restrict the number of pedestrian (or other) crossings — just synchronize them so if they’re all activated traffic on the street still gets a green wave. In fact traffic lights could also be used to enforce any speed desired.

Genius! A laurel rail crossing could be hooked up with the Peppler crossing. They always operate in sync, with the Peppler crossing always a few seconds after the Laurel crossing.
I know that one of the problems at Laurel sometimes, is that when the Peppler crossing activates, the cars start slowing down, potentially closing any incoming gaps that would have been crossable if the cars were at speed.

Reminder for the thread, we talked about this back in January in the Walking thread:
http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/s...0#pid30980

[highlander]

Iron Horse Trail (between Queen and Victoria) to get lights this fall

[danbrotherston]

Iron Horse Trail (between Queen and Victoria) to get lights this fall

Beat me too it.  This is huge news!  Totally unexpected.

Also, I imagine there is going to be strong resistance from a select few.

They're also still quoting the 3.6 meter number, which is still too narrow IMO, but I'd also like confirmation that they have decided against 3.0 meters as they were proposing most recently.

[timc]

That's great news!

[KevinL]

TD's environmental initiative is apparently providing backing to the Waterloo Park upgrades, as part of their Canada 150 projects. http://commongroundproject.td.com/waterloo