(10-14-2021, 07:29 PM)jeffster Wrote:(10-14-2021, 09:02 AM)Lebronj23 Wrote: Agreed. We are getting a ton of large proposals not just in the DT core but all around the city, it’s crazy!
I think what we're witnessing is the predictable evolution of the city. We're running out of areas to grow, more people are OK with not living in a house, so now we're going to have more apartment/condos, and taller ones at that, in areas we didn't always see them.
One hopes that it looks good in the end, like the rendering, and not something like Mooregate or the Waterloo Ghetto.
Absolutely. Butttt...that's my main problem with this region. Development won't just take place within the downtown cores, it'll take place wherever there is major infrastructure - whether that means high capacity arterial roads, highway exits, light rail stations or major bus hubs. It's planning 101. The Region of Waterloo and all 3 cities have done all sorts of projections but I can guarantee none of them are going to accurately predict the level of intensification that'll take place in this city in 20, 40 or even 60 years from now. The most recent population projection, for example was done in something like 2015 and predicted ROW would hit 630'000 by 2030 - yet it's 2021 and we're well past that. We are the fastest growing region in the entire country and while that will definitely not always be true, we'll still continue to grow as a major city/region. Our economy is enough to write that into stone (assuming somehow our tech companies/reputation fail, which is unlikely). I hope our planners are wise enough to take that into account going forward. However, most politicians - who are austerity minded - are not. We're going to rapidly outgrow our infrastructure and planned infrastructure before we know it - and I don't even need an expensive neural network/AI computer model and team of 500 planners to determine that...I can confidently say that whilst writing a forum post on a Sunday evening.
That's kind of one reason why I repeatedly complain about how bad the Region of Waterloo (both as a community and a government) shot itself in the foot when it came to the LRT. Light rail is a great technology, but it's very, very, very limited. Feel free to @RemindMe_OfThis but by like...2045 at the earliest, we're going to regret not burying the downtown sections of our LRT, for example - just to get underground infrastructure built in place. I post about this on this forum and tend to get shot down by "oh it's too expensive" or "well there's a creek nearby" - like, sorry, what? Look at the big picture. Maybe we underestimated the growth of our region - after all, initial studies for this started in about 2004 - but we should have predicted the growth we'd see...even if it meant overestimating, which we obviously needed to do.
Toronto opened its first subway route in 1954 and by the 70s it was already starting to be stressed. Forget about it today...the thing is packed, you risk death standing on certain platforms because they are SO full of bodies. In 2021 the thing is pushed beyond belief...I say this jokingly but I'm surprised the trains can even move given how many people pack onto them at any given moment. Expansion took a hell of a lot of time too. Half a century later and it's basically just falling apart with almost no meaningful investment due to political/economic BS. The fact of the matter is ROW is going to grow, grow, grow and it's going to need infrastructure to keep up with that. Surface light rail is most definitely not going to suffice within 30ish years, so then we need to invest in something heavy and long term. And no, just trying to cut back on cars, building bike lanes and building pretty paths - well, it's just not going to work, as much as the bike-o-philes here want to say otherwise. If I had to guess, our current LRT will end up like the Scarborough RT, only worse now that we are specifically aiming to densify our city unlike city planners were doing in the 80s: that is, very rapidly becoming obsolete due to overcapacity, technology and little chance to improve what already exists. The SRT lasted - at best, 15 years before they started realizing that thing was not going to last. I'd guess Line 1 of the ION will be bursting at its seams by 2035-2040 at best. It was already standing room only at launch, only to be decimated due to the pandemic. Running dual LRVs is not really a long term solution either.
Yeah, maybe it was too early for us to develop a subway system here (it was considered, researched and rejected), but maybe we should have saved our money in the meantime. Ottawa - who are a lot larger than us - started off with the Transitway, a BRT. They then progressed to a small LRT system about 15 years later. Roughly 15 years later after that, they opened up a proper "light metro" (yes the technology is "light rail" but the infrastructure is not) - that is, a rapid transit system that doesn't stop at fucking stoplights 3 seconds after departing Queen Station like ours does...lol...and it runs underground in the downtown core. It is what it is: rapid transit. That sort of long term strategizing is what you need when you're dealing with a city/region that is projected - not only mathematically/socially projected to grow by tens of thousands a year - to keep and keep growing. If you want to get cars off the road now - and in 25 years - you need to plan for it.