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(12-04-2016, 02:47 PM)KevinL Wrote: (12-04-2016, 01:16 PM)Canard Wrote: Even though I'm still primarily a motorist, I still can't help but think these very few spaces along King could have been better used as bike lanes. There are hundreds of spots just the other side of the building - did the extra ~10 spots on King really make that much of an improvement?
The local merchants are very protective of street parking - they were annoyed enough with the spots on the other side going away. Keeping these became a requirement.
This is unfortunately the situation. Even though empirical evidence from other bike lane installations shows that they are wrong, the general sentiment is that if their customers cannot park in front of their business, well, they won't have any customers. And for better or worse, the cities are very often willing to acquiesce, to these demands. I think getting the BIA on board with removing street parking in order to install bike lanes north of Erb was tremendously progressive, and also instrumental in getting council support for doing so. And yet, despite the fact that more than 100% of the street parking was replaced with off street lots (yes, you read that correct, parking actually INCREASED in uptown), there was still a business who felt so strongly about losing parking, that they came to the council meeting to speak out against it.
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12-05-2016, 09:29 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-05-2016, 09:31 AM by timc.)
(12-02-2016, 04:33 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: They are installing some temporary, green, construction fencing to the outsides of the Weber overpass near the OMSF today. I guess they don't want anybody getting silly ideas about messing with the messenger wire and other silly ideas. It is actually pretty amazing how close the wiring looks to the bottom of the overpass from the top of that overpass. I wonder what the permanent solution is going to be.
I was on Weber Street last night, and I'm sorry I reacted so quickly by saying that the fencing had been there for months. Yes, there has been fencing, but it was just strapped to the guardrail. It looks like they have more properly installed the fencing, on the outside of the barrier as you say, attached to the concrete with stainless steel brackets. This looks more permanent, at least until they reconstruct the road in a few years.
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With regard to the U-Turns on Northfield and whether there will be signage encouraging U-Turns then, I noticed last night driving along King that they have put U-Turn signs at several points along the route there, so that suggests that they will have at least considered it for Northfield (whether they implement them or not).
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(12-04-2016, 01:16 PM)Canard Wrote: As others noted - the old cobblestone path through these two buildings has now been paved wall-to-wall. Surprised, but very happy to see, as I'm a frequent user of the Spur Line and Laurel trail.[/i]
I just wish they had used bright yellow boots instead of the usual black. In this location all the traffic is parallel to the tracks so bicycles will have to be extra careful. Still, it’s nice, and much better than it ever has been.
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The final gap on Benton was being poured this morning. This leaves just Frederick as a gap in downtown Kitchener (though the Cameron crossover also still has to be fully poured).
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Saw work on the signals at Gaukel and Charles today - they're not turned on but they are all uncovered and correctly oriented. Could well be activated soon (today?).
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Lots of form work being down around the KCI crossover today. Was driving so not able to snap a photo.
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Take a drive along King and Northfield:
(Here's the same section, from 5 months ago: https://youtu.be/770ZAYnlBqI)
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Seeing the ballasted section, I'm wondering what part of the track design accommodates the bridge contraction/expansion cycle in winter/summer?
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12-06-2016, 05:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2016, 05:42 PM by Canard.)
The ballasted track can dance around a little bit, and the bridge has a steep vertical curve to it. Another reason why it's ballasted here is weight. Ballasted track weighs per cubic unit than embedded track, and the bridge was already existing. Even with the modifications to the bridge to strengthen it, it was only enough to support ballasted track, not embedded.
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According to the TV show "How's it made?" ballasted track is also preferred on bridges because of dampened vibration.
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(12-06-2016, 07:00 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: According to the TV show "How's it made?" ballasted track is also preferred on bridges because of dampened vibration.
I like that show! You can turn off your brain and learn something at the same time.
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(10-04-2016, 03:57 PM)Markster Wrote: Yeah, that's not my issue at all! I was wondering what the confusion was.
Also.... I sure hope that they build that rightmost crossing you have painted in there! A "sidewalk" as commonly called.
No, I'm talking about this:
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=2454]](http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/attachment.php?aid=2454)
Straighten out that thing to match what any normal person is going to actually walk.
Also... while we're at it, let's give some asphalt that is never going to be used by cars back to pedestrians.
Hey, so I don't recall if anyone pointed it out yet, but they repainted the tilt-a-crosswalk, and now it's much closer to the yellow lines in my mockup than it was before! Huzzah!
The crossing arms have been going in as well, and... well... some of them are in really awkward locations.
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I did point that out a little while ago, but it's worth noting again. The one crossing arm across the pedestrian crossing on the southwest corner looks like it is going to be in the wrong orientation, but I'm not sure. It will be easier to tell what things are going to look like once they have the boards on them.
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(12-04-2016, 01:16 PM)Canard Wrote: 5/6 - Sunday, December 4, 2016
Even though I'm still primarily a motorist, I still can't help but think these very few spaces along King could have been better used as bike lanes. There are hundreds of spots just the other side of the building - did the extra ~10 spots on King really make that much of an improvement?
From the photo, I'd assume there isn't even 10 spots. Guarantee at least two of those spots fall within 3 m of that fire hydrant. Those spots really should be X'd out, or maybe its just a sneaky way to increase city revenue...
Coke
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