Trails

[KevinL]

The key words there are 'by GrandLinq'. A fence replacement is not in a City of Waterloo planning document if a Regional contractor is set to do it.

[Canard]

Wow, that's very interesting. The impression given to us was that GrandLinq did what they did since that's the bare minimum of their requirement, and that the Region would go back and change it out for something nicer after.

It's great that it's going to happen, though.

[notmyfriends]

But then why did the ugly version go up first at all?

[Canard]

They (GrandLinq) had to put up something - but it wasn't specified that it had to be "nice". So they just did the bare minimum to meet Transport Canada requirements. They (the Region/City of Waterloo) have to wait until Substantial Completion before they go back and edit it.

[notmyfriends]

Right, if it's the City replacing it, but if it's GrandLinq that is to replace it I don't see what the need was for the wasteful in between state.

[Canard]

The news that "GrandLinq is replacing it" is new, so some kind of discussion or arm-twisting has happened recently.

[Pheidippides]

I had thought that the Waterloo CAO had misspoken because the construction fence seemed sufficient to mitigate safety concerns and installing a fence of that quality for a temporary measure seemed excessive measure for for profit entity so I sought further clarification with the city of Waterloo and that is the case. The Region, not GrandLinq, is planning to replace the fence in 2018, but probably has to wait until project completion in order to avoid a messy change order of the original specifications. Here is the statement from the city:

"As far as I understand, Cameron Rapp’s response to Councillor Durrell’s question is correct – that the chain link fence (that runs along the ION corridor through Waterloo Park) will be replaced with a decorative fence in 2018.  Upgrades to the LRT fence is not included in the budget for the improvements to the Central Promenade, however, I understand the Region intends to upgrade this segment of chain link fence through the Park in the future."

[danbrotherston]

For the past several months Kitchener-Wilmot hydro has been doing work along the Iron Horse Trail between Victoria and Glasgow.  I am not sure what the work entails, but at least some part has involved replacing hydro poles.

Crews have been very courteous to trail users, but even so there has been some trail impacts.  Aside from (minor) inconvenience of the trail being partially blocked at certain times, it is now quite muddy.

Worse, some of the work appears to involve filling in the drainage ditch to the side of the trail.  I have no idea what purpose this serves (for a while, it looked like they might be widening the the trail or shifting it.  Regardless, the filling in of the drainage seems to have resulted in serious flooding:

   

   

This section is just south of Glasgow and I've not seen it flood before, and yet, now, it is quite flooded.  Rather unfortunate I feel.

[panamaniac]

The trail runs along an old creek bed in that stretch, does it not?

[danbrotherston]

The trail runs along an old creek bed in that stretch, does it not?

I have no idea what hydrological or geological features are there, but I've never seen that section flood before.  Certainly the drainage ditch that is now mostly filled in was often full of water.

[panamaniac]

The trail runs along an old creek bed in that stretch, does it not?

I have no idea what hydrological or geological features are there, but I've never seen that section flood before.  Certainly the drainage ditch that is now mostly filled in was often full of water.

Nor I, that I can recall.

[Pheidippides]

Probably a confluence of factors: the massive change the drainage pattern from the adjoining property, the infill of the drainage ditch for use as a base of the hydro trucks, saturated soil, and heavy rain events.

I ran through there with pushing our jogging stroller and was quite surprised at how deep it was. It's persisted a long time too. Had that been a major road it would have led the news and the city would have had crews out right away.

There's another spot further to the south near the opening to Cherry st that seems to flood more frequently and deeper lately, but I can't seem to figure out what has changed in ghe nearby drainage to cause this to happen.

[danbrotherston]

Probably a confluence of factors: the massive change the drainage pattern from the adjoining property, the infill of the drainage ditch for use as a base of the hydro trucks, saturated soil, and heavy rain events.

I ran through there with pushing our jogging stroller and was quite surprised at how deep it was. It's persisted a long time too. Had that been a major road it would have led the news and the city would have had crews out right away.

There's another spot further to the south near the opening to Cherry st that seems to flood more frequently and deeper lately, but I can't seem to figure out what has changed in ghe nearby drainage to cause this to happen.

The section near Cherry St. has flooded every year I've been using the trail.  That's nothing new (although, it is another good example of double standards, such a situation would not be allowed to persist for, I assume, the entire time the trail has existed).

Given that the drainage has been changed, we will have to wait to see how big a problem is, but if it is a problem, it's quite frustrating that they would just fill in the drainage causing this problem for the trail.  Such a situation would never even be contemplated on a road.

[Canard]

What few trees remain along the Laurel Trail between the Perimeter Institute and the tracks are coming down - I saw they were all marked for removal on my ride yesterday.

[Pheidippides]

The section near Cherry St. has flooded every year I've been using the trail.  That's nothing new (although, it is another good example of double standards, such a situation would not be allowed to persist for, I assume, the entire time the trail has existed).

I recall that section constantly pooling water over the years, but the puddle seems to have become a pond in the last 2-3 years.