ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[panamaniac]

A woman in Guelph was hit by a car on Monday morning and has been charged for failing to use a crosswalk.  What a loser!  

http://www.570news.com/2016/07/25/pedest...in-guelph/

[Markster]

Duke/Queen is looking good!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Duke/Queen looks ready to open! <a href="https://t.co/yaOpxEzPiM">pic.twitter.com/yaOpxEzPiM</a></p>&mdash; Mark Jackson-Brown (@Markster3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/Markster3000/status/757708813126565888">July 25, 2016</a></blockquote>

Re: crossing streets
I'm not saying that someone is entitled to jump in front of cars. I'm saying that erecting a fence to stop all crossing of the street, no matter how safe, is overkill. (And a safety hazard of its own kind; crossing the street is a good way to get away from unscrupulous characters)

[Canard]

[danbrotherston]

Crossing the street mid-block, contrary to popular belief, is not illegal.

While that's technically true, it's required that if you're reasonably close to a crosswalk, you use it. It's sort of the "don't be a dick" thing.  I really don't think it's fair to the LRV operators to give them a heart attack by darting out in front of trains because you can't be bothered to walk another 30 m.

Or you know, 100 meters, if you're in the middle center section of the road (it's almost 200 meters from Victoria to Francis.  It's not "being a dick" to legally cross the road.  But just because it's legal to cross doesn't negate the necessity to yield the right of way.  Crossing in front of a car, is still illegal, and I suppose "being a dick" as well.

As for the incident in Guelph, apparently it is pretty easy to get out of a "crossing outside of crosswalk" ticket, but really the pedestrian should have been charged with some sort of failure to yield, because that's what they did--unless there was obviously a very nearby crosswalk.  I'm not sure why the police don't do this in general.  Probably because the belief that its "jaywalking" and illegal to cross the road outside of a crosswalk pervades much of society.

Of course, the really funny thing is, anyone who thinks about it know's that of course, this isn't true, after all, we cross the road at trails with no legal crosswalk, we cross the road to get to our parked cars in downtown areas, all the time, and nobody bats an eye.

Don't get me started about pedestrian crossing....

[Canard]

Queen/Duke:

   

[panamaniac]

I feel badly for the folks in the Duke Food Block. I imagine they have taken one heck of a hit this year. So happy to see Queen re-opening, however!

[Canard]

Whenever I walk/bike by the "Jack Burger Pub" on Duke by the CityCentre project, I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous the construction is for them.  I'll have to take a photo next time I'm through there.  Like they're just completely surrounded by mess.

[Markster]

It's not even that bad today!
There were a few days where their front steps ended at a 6 foot pit. You had to enter directly on to the patio on the side.

[Canard]

Yeah, it was like that on Saturday (or Sunday, I can't remember). There were at least 2 giant pieces of equipment right out front... like everybody just left their toys out and ran in for lunch coz' mom yelled.

[MidTowner]

A woman in Guelph was hit by a car on Monday morning and has been charged for failing to use a crosswalk.  What a loser!  

http://www.570news.com/2016/07/25/pedest...in-guelph/

This is the definition of adding insult to injury. The woman made a mistake, was hit by a car, was hopefully uninjured, and you feel the need to call her a “loser”? It’s proper that she be charged (though I didn’t even know “failing to use a crosswalk” was a charge- the error is not making sure there’s not a car coming), but we have to go and mock her as well? Sometimes, people make mistakes (I'm not saying you do; I mean the rest of us do).

King Street near Victoria is hopefully going to be a big mix of different road users who take the stretch nice and slowly to be able to keep an eye out for conflicts. We don’t need fences there to keep people from crossing the street when it’s safe to do so. We should be aspiring to fewer barriers, not more.

[Chris]

Whenever I walk/bike by the "Jack Burger Pub" on Duke by the CityCentre project, I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous the construction is for them.  I'll have to take a photo next time I'm through there.  Like they're just completely surrounded by mess.

I've been there a few times since the street was torn up and they seem to still have a good amount of customers. It really helped when they opened access to the parking lot from Weber via St Mary's. Before that a lot of people were moving the construction fence and getting stuck inside the construction zone.

Jack Burger also has a good sense of humour about the situation as demonstrated in this Instagram post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHnUNMnh3JK/

[kitborn]

That sidewalk in front of Kaufman is awful, and it's going to be extremely expensive to fix it in the future. It's mind-boggling that they didn't narrow the rest of the roadway.

Soon enough, with the transit hub and other projects near King/Victoria, foot traffic will increase and it will become dangerous in addition to being a terrible experience.

I think many people get used to the idea that a LRT is nearby. It's common sense to not step out onto the roadway without looking.

[jgsz]

That sidewalk in front of Kaufman is awful, and it's going to be extremely expensive to fix it in the future. It's mind-boggling that they didn't narrow the rest of the roadway.

Soon enough, with the transit hub and other projects near King/Victoria, foot traffic will increase and it will become dangerous in addition to being a terrible experience.

I think many people get used to the idea that a LRT is nearby. It's common sense to not step out onto the roadway without looking.

The sidewalk in front of Kaufman is not ideal but it's not as bad as this stretch of road in the old part of Istanbul (Sultanahmet).  The sidewalk is narrow and it's full of people, especially on the left-hand side.   I walked it often but you have to have your wits about you.  Istanbul has Bombardiers on this track.   Cars and buses are allowed on most of the tracks. 

https://www.google.ca/maps/@41.014236,28...312!8i6656

[mpd618]

That sidewalk in front of Kaufman is awful, and it's going to be extremely expensive to fix it in the future. It's mind-boggling that they didn't narrow the rest of the roadway.

Soon enough, with the transit hub and other projects near King/Victoria, foot traffic will increase and it will become dangerous in addition to being a terrible experience.

I think many people get used to the idea that a LRT is nearby. It's common sense to not step out onto the roadway without looking.

What I'm saying is that when foot traffic increases, it'll get harder not to step out on the roadway due to how awfully small that sidewalk is.

[KevinL]

Concrete pour this morning on Charles just south of Ontario, next to Sports Link. Still a gap by the Full Circle lot entrance, though, where the rails still haven't been welded!