ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Drake]

... From what I've heard (hearsay, mind you) GRT was not really at the table for the stop placement discussion.

If that is true, it is pretty disappointing. Is ION going to be a seperate entity or will it be under the GRT umbrella? I thought it was all going to be GRT so the coordination of transit would be seamless and we wouldn't be anointing new bureaucratic emperors.

[Canard]

GRT wasn't (and shouldn't have) been involved in stop placement selection. That should have been (and was, to the best of my knowledge) left up to engineers and planners who have the data and knowledge on where best to place the stops. GRT should (and may) also listen to those same planners for their routing. Yes there should be integration between ion and GRT, but GRT should not dictate where the stops are.

[Drake]

Why not? Isn't operating a mass transit system for decades in a community worth some credibility? The engineers used an existing industrial rail corridor for the Waterloo section of the LRT I suspect for cost savings and placed stops where they could rather than where they should.

[notmyfriends]

I like where the R&T stop is, myself, potentially. There's room to make some kind of awesome station like Westminster's new one around Denver ( http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/CityGove...nArea.aspx ), and all the area right around the station being undeveloped on Wes Graham is a good thing as it could be designed around the station. Phillip street is pretty redefinable as well at the moment. If you make Wes Graham connect through to Phillip, and then the new connection on the other side to Laurelwood, then buses on Columbia could turn onto Phillip, connect at the station and head right through Laurelwood to Erbsville road - a useful route and a proper connector at the station.

Lots of possibility to redesign here, and I keep hoping (naively?) something like this is going to happen here.

[mpd618]

GRT wasn't (and shouldn't have) been involved in stop placement selection.  That should have been (and was, to the best of my knowledge) left up to engineers and planners who have the data and knowledge on where best to place the stops.  GRT should (and may) also listen to those same planners for their routing.  Yes there should be integration between ion and GRT, but GRT should not dictate where the stops are.

Talking to GRT would have been useful to figure out how that integration would work, and what tradeoffs a given choice of station would have. My understanding is that those conversations didn't happen.

The engineers used an existing industrial rail corridor for the Waterloo section of the LRT I suspect for cost savings and placed stops where they could rather than where they should.

Cost was a factor for the choice of route, but the stop placement around the universities has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with politics.

That said, ultimately, some amount of politics was needed in order to get enough stakeholders to be willing to support the project for it to happen.

[Osiris]

Do the stop plans not predate the almost-demise of BlackBerry? That's what I figured - that stop was placed there to service the (at the time) growing BlackBerry campus.

Then the Universities did their dance to get the next two stops where they are, BlackBerry runs away to the Northfield Tech Park, and the inertia to get everyone back to the table to do it properly with the changed parameters is too great.

[GtwoK]

So based on these drawings:



the portion of Madison Ave S thats SOUTH of Charles should be getting reworked, correct? Anyone have more details on this? Is the one-way ramp being converted into a trail / sidewalk, or is the retaining wall being rebuilt so that the land is flat on top and that there is no access from Charles?

[zanate]

Curbs and rails in front of GRH.

[timc]

 If you make Wes Graham connect through to Phillip, and then the new connection on the other side to Laurelwood, then buses on Columbia could turn onto Phillip, connect at the station and head right through Laurelwood to Erbsville road - a useful route and a proper connector at the station.  

I like this. I don't know if the connection to Phillip could happen, but I like it. There is a long-term plan somewhere to connect to Laurelwood, isn't there?

[timio]

Curbs and rails in front of GRH.

It's nice to see progress.

[Canard]

There has been tons of progress. I think what you mean is it's nice to see the "rebuilding" phase start. So much of the work so far has been the deconstruction and "fixing existing infrastructure" phase.

[Waterlooer]

Based on the recent pics I've seen of King Street in front of GRH, I'm assuming there will be bike lanes on King?

[timio]

There has been tons of progress. I think what you mean is it's nice to see the "rebuilding" phase start. So much of the work so far has been the deconstruction and "fixing existing infrastructure" phase.

Yes. Digging holes, while fascinating to watch and see all the cool stuff under the ground, isn't as exciting to see as above ground work.

[timio]

I crossed the tracks near E5 at UW today and you could see the alignment starting to take shape. They've rerouted the spur in the area so it's all one side of the corridor now.

[Markster]

I crossed the tracks near E5 at UW today and you could see the alignment starting to take shape.  They've rerouted the spur in the area so it's all one side of the corridor now.

All one side of what corridor?