Thursday, April 19, 2012

got info on future uptown i wanted. not good

http://rapidtransit.region.waterloo.on.ca/pdfs/LRTGRT_Alignment.pdf
D - I went back to that Light Rail office. Knocked again. This time, somebody heard and opened the door. There is nobody inside with an office near the front. The sign does say knock. It's a big, heavy door. I did try the buzzer repeatedly. So either it is quiet too, or sticks. All in all, not ideal. I spoke a gent in planning. He was very courteous and helpful. By day's end, he had sent me the zoomed in, detailed PDF scans I had requested. Aside- today I walked around uptown with my digicam, documenting what a typical day of parking and driving looks like. On a weekday midafternoon, it was not that busy either. I'll post those pics next blog. The scans confirmed: 1) 1 street lane each way 2) a whole lotta new parallel parking spots on the non-rail side. OK, so right now, 1) people cannot parallel park (particularly with no guide lines!), 2) bus must straddle 2 lanes to not hit parked vehicles, 3) bikes get sandwiched in there, but at least cars can hope to a second lane each way now, 4) traffic in the right lane slows to a crawl when busy, since that lane is occupied by parkers. The plans call for a much expanded unending line (1 lil' gap in middle) of parallel parkings. Yup, it's WORSE. I dare say, as bad as I could have imagine it. Here's a thought - there is no foliage along that sad lonely stretch to speak of. There is - wait for it- ONE bike stand. One. For a block on one side. You see, they get in the way of either a) pedestrians walking (Particularly with portable store signs put out), b) or car doors opening while parked. I am not perfectly sure, but suspect the existing trees on 'sunny side' (the rail side) might not survive the reboot. There will be no greenery along that whole stretch. Nowhere to shelter from the sun. (Note: I've been a regular at a cafe along there for forever, and that afternooon sun can get intense. The patio will NOT be attractive without shade.) The plan results in an uptown worse for everybody 1) cars could use the parking- if only they could reach it faster than a snail's pace! 2) bikes - forget it 3) bus? They don't fit in the lane for all the reasons I cited. So just WHO is the future uptown for? I have no idea. I personally think the rail as shown will thoroughly gut it. On the bright side, most city councillors own properties near the future light rail, and will see their values increase at a rate 2x as high as if we stuck to a bus-only system. So the region will have light rail... and still not have a viable network of bike lanes/ trails!!! I reiterate my suggestion for uptown: 1) there are already THREE parking garages planned- there is not lack of parking! 2) parallel parking was a quaint small-town affection we can no longer reconcile with the soon-to-be reality 3) replace the long stretch of parallel parking with pick-up/ drop-off zones 4) I'm not even asking for a bike lane! Just no door prize, please! 5) Put up some small trees and multi-bike-stands to break up the parked cars (with driver idling and present) 6) replace every 1 1/2 car widths with 1 car width and an angled exit/entry -drive sans parallel parking 7) YEARS later, finally indicate distance from curb with paint lines! Grr.

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