TFC
Active Member
Does anyone know whether the bus platforms at this new bus terminal have a snowmelt system? I'm really hoping they did and we won't end up with ION-esque platforms caked in salt.
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Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)
emphurent
Active Member
They are coming within the decade (phased), approved last year was the University Avenue Gateway Strategy which covers beyond just the universities. Details and concepts can be found here.
No concrete plans, but there seems to be a large focus on public realm activation, which is a spot that I also felt needed a lot of enhancement being this once suburban stroad is now a student downtown lined with many businesses and apartments.
King/University Currently:
Concept from the Strategy document:
sche
Active Member
Can the signals be moved further west?
timio
Active Member
No. There's a spur immediately west of the overpass.
sche
Active Member
Does the signal have to be before the switch? And the one for the north track can still be moved, no? It seems a bit silly to block off a road and move the platforms further away from the LRT transfer because of a signal.No. There's a spur immediately west of the overpass.
smallspy
Senior Member
In this case, yes, the signal needs to be before the switch - it guards it.
There might be the opportunity to move the switch to the Huron Park Spur a little further west if the lands there are owned by CN or GO, and thus are able to be used for a track realignment there. But even then, the most that they would gain is only about 50 feet or so - really not worth the hassle and cost.
Dan
jamincan
Active Member
This doesn't make sense to me - the signal gantry west of King Street is about 20m past the west edge of the bridge structure over King Street, but there are a number of stations along the Kitchener Line alone where the signal gantry is closer or similarly spaced, including west of Malton, east of Etobicoke North, and north of Bloor.
smallspy
Senior Member
Those signals are not interlocking signals, and so are allowed to be passed even if the signal is showing red (CROR rule 436 or 437). The one at Kitchener is an interlocking, and thus can only be passed when red under very specific circumstances.
There's also the fact that just because it's done elsewhere doesn't make it ideal. There have been instances where crews accidentally ran through red signals at other platforms (Scarborough immediately comes to mind) just by releasing the brake.
Dan
Allandale25
Senior Member
Wild speculation on my part and I can't remember if all the studies are done. Stage 2 funding from the province and feds?
Towered
Superstar
The extension to downtown Cambridge? That would be awesome.
jamincan
Active Member
Just to end the speculation, it's $8.5 million towards an expansion of the House of Friendship shelter in Kitchener.
reaperexpress
Senior Member
This is the kind of well-intentioned but poorly implemented redesign which is sadly common in Ontario. I suspect that this type of half-thinking is also why Toronto's vision zero safety program has not improved safety at all.
- Eliminating left turn lanes also eliminates the possibility of fully-protected turning signal phases. I did a review of collisions at this intersection a few years ago, and the majority involved left-turning vehicles - including one where two cars crashed in the intersection and flew onto the sidewalk injuring three pedestrians. Usually the situation was a car waiting to turn left misjudging whether or not the oncoming car was going to stop at a yellow. This situation is completely eliminated with fully-protected signal phases since nobody is looking for a gap to turn left during the straight-through yellow.
- A scramble crossing at this intersection would require an insanely long flashing don't walk, and as a result the signal cycle length would also be insanely long. This would massively increase delay for all road users, including pedestrians. The safety benefits of scramble crossings depend on the assumption that pedestrians don't walk during the normal green for car traffic, but that is not realistic. If you're willing to sacrifice massive amounts of motor vehicle capacity (which an enormous scramble crossing would do), then you'd be better off requisitioning one of the lanes as a right-turn lane to provide fully-protected right-turn phases simultaneous with the left-turn phases mentioned above, and having pedestrians cross simultaneously with traffic going straight.
- There is absolutely no measure to manage the conflict between right-turning cars and cyclists. Again, if there were a right-turn lane, there could be fully-protected right-turn signal phases which temporally separate turning cars from cyclists going straight.
The sidewalks in the area are already quite wide. I'd be much more interested in seeing the space used to maintain and/or introduce dedicated turning lanes and dedicated turning phases, so pedestrians and cyclists can consistently traverse the intersection without getting run over. The issue here is likely that the design was made by urban designers with no understanding of traffic operations and only the vaguest concepts of ideas which are trendy "safety" improvements.
emphurent
Active Member
The (I assume is finished) University of Waterloo bus terminal looks quite nice at night, already seeing some use.
For as cold as it was, the warm pallets really makes it look warm, even though more enclosed spaces would've been nice to see.
To me the standout feature is lighting, bright with some style, but lots of subtle accents to evenly light the space such as the lighting accenting the Platform sign (not just indirect lighting).
Photos taken this evening.
For as cold as it was, the warm pallets really makes it look warm, even though more enclosed spaces would've been nice to see.
To me the standout feature is lighting, bright with some style, but lots of subtle accents to evenly light the space such as the lighting accenting the Platform sign (not just indirect lighting).
Photos taken this evening.
Amare
Senior Member
It's hard to judge based of these pictures, but the least they couldve done is provide more shelter space from the elements. As far as im concerned this just looks like a glorified bus stop.
awaterwell
New Member
The glass shelters are heated, and platforms 3-6 each have two!