ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

   
Stirling/Charles.

   
Stirling/Charles.

   
Borden/Charles.

   
Borden/Charles.

   
Borden/Charles.

[Canard]

   
Borden/Charles.

   
At the Fairway terminal end of the line, this view shows the ground preparation work for track, hopefully coming soon! Wilson is in the foreground.

   
This is looking the other way, along the hydrocut, toward Courtland.

[KevinL]

  I do wonder if ice build up will be a problem in the winter.

It shouldn't be, from what I hear; metal wheels on metal rails just crushes/melts ice, and traction is not a problem in that scenario.

A bigger issue is wet leaves in the autumn. That creates a slippery gunk that is harder to bypass.

[Square]

I can't find the post, but someone said a week or so ago that the lubricator at Charles/Ontario was fixed. I was just by and it looks the same to me.



Someone from the Rapid Transit team did reach out to me and said they'd send someone over to take a look, so I guess they decided it wasn't a problem, or just haven't dealt with it yet.

It was a poster on Urban Toronto, who posts lots of pictures also.   The one at Ontario and Charles is still not fixed.    His picture had a white stripe on the metal plate.

[rangersfan]

Off topic but it looks like our friend picked up some hardware for his honest reporting. These awards must be meaningless.
http://m.therecord.com/news-story/651170...per-awards

[Markster]

So, seeing as how the street closures in downtown have seriously escalated, I started to put together this little google map showing what is closed, what is partially open, and what are the best routes to take to drive around downtown.

Feel free to share!  If you're interested in helping add detail, let me know, and I'll add you as an editor!

Map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-bHJmO...sp=sharing

Example:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Road closures are ramping up this week in <a href="https://twitter.com/CityKitchener">@CityKitchener</a><br>Here are your best alt routes:<a href="https://t.co/Kuzb1AFws0">https://t.co/Kuzb1AFws0</a> <a href="https://t.co/uTHP3Oeyar">pic.twitter.com/uTHP3Oeyar</a></p>&mdash; Mark Jackson-Brown (@Markster3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000/status/722873706121269248">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote>

[chutten]

It's another beautiful morning in Waterloo Region!

AKA: overhead wires capital of SW Ontario?

Another close-up of the transition point.  I didn't bring my tape measure (I was just curious!), but it looks to be about 30-40 mm of clearance, between the top of the rail and the concrete.  The flange on the trains is about 20 mm deep.  Not that I doubted them, again, I was just curious.    I do wonder if ice build up will be a problem in the winter.

I am looking forward to the noise the LRVs will make crunching ice out of the way. I imagine it to be very satisfying at street level.

[Viewfromthe42]

I'm really curious as to why so many people seem to want to use any non-Weber option to go north/south around Downtown. King's already slow even without blockages, and no other option seems to be all that great, but plenty still stream down Joseph and Park. I think I've even seen the post-effects of someone driving on the sidewalks at Francis and King to get around the fenced-off intersection.

[panamaniac]

I'm really curious as to why so many people seem to want to use any non-Weber option to go north/south around Downtown. King's already slow even without blockages, and no other option seems to be all that great, but plenty still stream down Joseph and Park. I think I've even seen the post-effects of someone driving on the sidewalks at Francis and King to get around the fenced-off intersection.

To take Weber to get to a destination I'd normally take Park to reach just seems very round-a-bout to me.  Plus with Park, you get to drive through Victoria Park which is nice.  Re King, it's not a "non-Weber" option to most Kitchenerites born and raised - it's more like Weber is the "non-King" option.  We have always cruised King, whether its necessary or not.  When I'm not in a hurry, I would think nothing of getting off Weber at Cedar of Scott (or even Ottawa) to swing over to King St down to at least Victoria St.  It's just the way we role, so to speak.  To me it's more a local culture thing than a transportation issue!

[Markster]

I'm really curious as to why so many people seem to want to use any non-Weber option to go north/south around Downtown. King's already slow even without blockages, and no other option seems to be all that great, but plenty still stream down Joseph and Park. I think I've even seen the post-effects of someone driving on the sidewalks at Francis and King to get around the fenced-off intersection.

Charles is currently a huge barrier in downtown, and with the new Duke closures, it's shut down some of the few routes to access Weber that remained.
If you're already on the south/west side of Charles, you want to stay on the south/west side.

[panamaniac]

I'm really curious as to why so many people seem to want to use any non-Weber option to go north/south around Downtown. King's already slow even without blockages, and no other option seems to be all that great, but plenty still stream down Joseph and Park. I think I've even seen the post-effects of someone driving on the sidewalks at Francis and King to get around the fenced-off intersection.

Charles is currently a huge barrier in downtown, and with the new Duke closures, it's shut down some of the few routes to access Weber that remained.
If you're already on the south/west side of Charles, you want to stay on the south/west side.

This is why Park is popular.

[GtwoK]

The other day I noticed someone, heading Westbound on Victoria, trying to turn left onto King. Of course, the left turn lane is completely blocked off with traffic barricades, so they were in the through lane holding up traffic trying to turn left. Not only that, but King was quite obviously closed down as well, with traffic barricades running across the intersection and a giant "ROAD CLOSED" sign smack in the middle. Nonetheless, this guy decided to drive straight over the traffic barricades, knocking them over so he could get onto the closed portion of King. For what? Who knows! Nowhere to go from where he was!

[dunkalunk]

So, seeing as how the street closures in downtown have seriously escalated, I started to put together this little google map showing what is closed, what is partially open, and what are the best routes to take to drive around downtown.

Feel free to share!  If you're interested in helping add detail, let me know, and I'll add you as an editor!

Map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-bHJmO...sp=sharing

Example:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Road closures are ramping up this week in <a href="https://twitter.com/CityKitchener">@CityKitchener</a><br>Here are your best alt routes:<a href="https://t.co/Kuzb1AFws0">https://t.co/Kuzb1AFws0</a> <a href="https://t.co/uTHP3Oeyar">pic.twitter.com/uTHP3Oeyar</a></p>&mdash; Mark Jackson-Brown (@Markster3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000/status/722873706121269248">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote>

PSA: Borden Benton between Charles and King is open again! (as of an hour ago)

[Markster]

PSA: Borden between Charles and King is open again! (as of an hour ago)

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!! Bi-directional?!

[Canard]

That's been open ever since they shut down Ottawa, for at least a week.