General Road and Highway Discussion

[Spokes]

Is this typical maintenance? Seems like it wouldn't be.

[tomh009]

Replacing an expansion joint? Definitely seems premature. And also baffling as to why it will take two or three months

[The85]

Definitely premature. A conventional bridge has a lifespan of 50-80 years, with a full rehabilitation expected and needed at it's midlife point.

I think one of the complications here is this bridge is anchored on both sides by a retaining wall - one of which is about 50 years old from when Highway 8 was originally built, and the other wall 12 years that was built along with the bridge when Highway 8 was widened through this stretch. Hopefully the problems with the expansion joint are on the 50 year old side, not the 12 year old side.

[timio]

The Region of Waterloo is currently soliciting public feedback on lane modifications and left-turn restrictions at Westmount and Glasgow. [survey link under Public Input heading]

I'm assuming this will be a temporary solution until they get to reconstructing that portion of Westmount.  The stretch from Glasgow to John is quite narrow and could use a bit of elbow room built in.

[Markster]

Looks like they're proposing restricting a left turn from Westmount northbound to Glasgow westbound from 7am-7pm.  They'll remove the left turn bay for that movement, and allow two through lanes for both north and southbound Westmount.

   

[tomh009]

A much better arrangement than the current one, I think.

[BuildingScout]

I was just thinking about that last time I drove past. Glasgow westbound from there is not supposed to be a through street. Why then are Northbound cars turning left on Glasgow blocking this major intersection.

[Markster]

I don't think I would call Glasgow "not a through street", but I do understand that it's a city priority to keep traffic calmed there.

Presumably, in days of yore, the intersection was 2 through lanes for both northbound and southbound, where the inner through lane doubled as a turn lane. They reconfigured to allow for left turn storage lanes, (probably due to large backups caused by left turners at rush hour) at the cost of one southbound through lane.

[kwliving]

I live very close to Westmount/Glasgow intersection and despite what seems like a busy road, Westmount isn't really that busy most of the day. Even right now at 5:19 there isn't a backup to Claremont.

If they do restrict lefts on to Glasgow, it will only move the people turning left on to Westwood or Claremont. There is no good way to Fischer-Hallman from Westmount between Victoria and Erb except Glasgow. If you have to go to Erb, its way out of the way.

They should restrict northbound traffic to two lanes, but still allow lefts more hours of the day so it doesn't push traffic to other residential streets. This may just back up traffic northbound though. Perhaps limiting lefts from 7:00am-9:00am and 4:00pm-6:00pm.

From a personal point of view, I'd like to see Westmount from John St to Glasgow be three lanes plus bike lanes. One lane each way and a two-way center turning lane. Of course, that probably wouldn't fly as there would be no connectivity to the bike lanes to or from the area.

I regularly walk in this area and the backup of southbound headed vehicles on Westmount sometimes reach Union. Currently it creates huge blind spots for pedestrians trying to cross from the west to east side of Westmount during heavy traffic times. I can understand why they want to move vehicles here more efficiently.

(I'm aware of my conflicting statements) 

[jamincan]

The left turn storage lane for Westmount northbound to Erb westbound is also problematic with traffic backing up into the through lanes. I don't think they can get away with restricting left turns there though.

It has become very pronounced with all the construction, but it seems to me that the region does a very poor job of light timing and synchronization in general.

[tomh009]

I don't think I would call Glasgow "not a through street", but I do understand that it's a city priority to keep traffic calmed there.

Presumably, in days of yore, the intersection was 2 through lanes for both northbound and southbound, where the inner through lane doubled as a turn lane.  They reconfigured to allow for left turn storage lanes, (probably due to large backups caused by left turners at rush hour) at the cost of one southbound through lane.

Exactly correct.  That change might have been something like 15 years ago.

[eizenstriet]

It has become very pronounced with all the construction, but it seems to me that the region does a very poor job of light timing and synchronization in general.

I have often thought that The Region must have a very clever technocrat in charge of de-synchronization of light timing.

[mpd618]

I have often thought that The Region must have a very clever technocrat in charge of de-synchronization of light timing.

And that would be both extremely cynical and incorrect. The Region of Waterloo does an annual review of a portion of its signals to improve performance - you can see a report from one of these here.

[curious_look]

I have often thought that The Region must have a very clever technocrat in charge of de-synchronization of light timing.

And that would be both extremely cynical and incorrect. The Region of Waterloo does an annual review of a portion of its signals to improve performance - you can see a report from one of these here.

Thanks for posting to this! Now I know the likely reason why the light at weber/young suddenly became so unresponsive to the pedestrian crossing button to cross Weber. 

[panamaniac]

Young St between King and Duke has finally been reopened.