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I hadn't (as usual) thought of it that way before. Hrm. I guess if someone had said to me "You can either have a nice new paved trail somewhere else, or a short illuminated section* of the Laurel Trail", I might have picked the former. :/ I totally see your point.
* - I didn't realize it was just going to be one short section near Perimeter; I was expecting it was going to be the whole shot from Erb/Caroline to Seagram, essentially.
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(02-28-2017, 12:30 PM)timc Wrote: I have mixed feelings. The rest of the trail project is $1.4 million, and we are going to spend an extra $800K on making part of it glow? I can't help but think that there are other trail network improvements that could be made with that money.
This is my thinking as well. It makes me sad that we must choose. On the other hand, who knows if that money would have been spent on trails or not.
As for it being a "short segment near perimeter", the reason is, the glowing trail only works where the trail is not lit by other lighting, which the main section of the trail will be.
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I'm concerned if it's proposal number 2. Option 1 is to have the section of trail between Perimeter and the lake, from the LRT/walking bridge to where the water goes under UpTown, glowing. Option 2 sounds like they would just use it in a blob around the information signs at the LRT/walking bridges, which would be a bit insane for $800K.
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CTV is reporting that the illuminated trail could be in as early as this summer!
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1068550
How can this be, though? The master plan I thought was years away from completion. Surely we are not putting down this beautiful trail, only to tear it up again in a year or two?
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The master plan is many years from completion, but it's construction is starting now.
The trail rebuilding is happening now because a) there is upper level funding available, and b) the trail is already in a bad state from LRT construction--it is getting rebuilt now so that it doesn't get torn up in 2 years.
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Does anybody know if the lights around the Perimeter Institute, which I believe are actually the remaining parking lot lights for the former Waterloo Memorial Arena, are going to be removed/replaced? They look sort of out of place next to the PI and don’t provide ideal lighting for a trail (as opposed to a parking lot).
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(03-01-2017, 10:48 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Does anybody know if the lights around the Perimeter Institute, which I believe are actually the remaining parking lot lights for the former Waterloo Memorial Arena, are going to be removed/replaced? They look sort of out of place next to the PI and don’t provide ideal lighting for a trail (as opposed to a parking lot).
I cannot say that I have seen officially what the plan is, but I do know that the glow in the dark pavement only works in complete darkness. The lights which face onto the trail would have to be removed.
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So then when there's snow there's just darkness?
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03-02-2017, 09:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-02-2017, 09:58 PM by danbrotherston.)
Yes, although I don't think the trail provides much in the way of light anyway, it's more glowing. And actually, there was some suggestion of using black lights to prolong the glowing of the trail.
That's just one reason why this isn't being used on the main trail in the park.
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This is striking me as less of a good idea the more I find out about it. That picture of it is pretty, but...
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The seems like such a waste of money to me. If they want an art installation, pay money to an artist to design one. This seems more like throwing money at something that looks cool on paper, but that isn't likely going to be overly functional. I'd rather have a trail with proper lighting and spend the remaining money building new trails.
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As a comparison, the cost for this installation is roughly the same as is being spent on public art for all of ION.
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...which was 1/10 of what it should have been, BTW.
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(03-03-2017, 06:44 AM)jamincan Wrote: The seems like such a waste of money to me. If they want an art installation, pay money to an artist to design one. This seems more like throwing money at something that looks cool on paper, but that isn't likely going to be overly functional. I'd rather have a trail with proper lighting and spend the remaining money building new trails.
They did spend $50,000 the same day for some art picnic tables at Waterloo park
bottom of the article
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-...-1.4003005
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I don't know the area but a trail proposal is seeking resistance from nearby residents. I personally don't get the resistance to trails ( I live a house a away from the Dom Cardillo trail and absolutely love it) .
http://m.therecord.com/news-story/717545...hind-homes
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