[All] Viability of a single-track bi-directional LRT on King complemented by a Fast Commuter LRT Corridor

[Robert Milligan]

Hi All,

I made a 2 hour site visit Tuesday along King (& 1 block west) from  
Beithaupt to John. Here is what I found:

Viability (esp. re: safety) of a bi-directional LRT along the west  
side of King is made more possible by limited King Street access by  
vehicles to parking "lots" of various buildings:
My very detailed site visit of current parking "lots" for buildings  
along King from Wellington St. to John St. showed that  every parking  
area currently along this section of King (west side) could have its  
access fairly conveniently redirected to side streets or a back  
street-- with one exception, St Mark's Lutheran Church at Green St.  
(an innovative  technological solution is possible).  Specific  
construction possibilities: 2 laneway extensions from Wellington &  
Agnes (1 each), 3 new access driveways from Walter between Agnes &  
Park. Relatively little cost would be involved. And if it done just  
before King St. in front of their buildings is torn up, then they will  
very much appreciate that their business or school or hospital or?  
suffers little because of the long construction delays! Minimizing  
construction complaints is good needed PR for the project

Let's assume that all safety concerns can be minimized at least  
possibly by: (above) re-directed off-street parking access; LRT  
barrier-separation from sidewalk (planters?) and cars/trucks (small  
401 style?); possible fence on top of the road-barrier for cyclist (if  
adjacent to LRT track) & pedestrian safety (as on 401 barriers near  
rest stops); banks of 5 very bright red LED  lights that cycle on in  
the direction of the approaching LRT.

With greater emphasis on more & safer bicycle-ways (Increasingly as  
climate calamity and economic necessity soon forces a more frugal  
existence beyond our worst "dreams"), I would suggest that an improved  
Montreal-model for a protected 2-way bicycle-way be seriously  
considered along the east side of King St. between Francis (K) and  
William (W). Innovative use of electrical control system technology  
could used here also to make cyclist/car (or truck) contact points  
safer. The west-side sidewalk could be moved over to create sufficient  
space on the east side for this safe/fast bike-way.

The suggested cross-section of this new King St would then be (west to  
east): sidewalk, planter barrier, LRT track, small 401-style barrier  
(with fence attached if a bicycle lane is beside), Kit. direction car  
lane, shared turning & emergency lane, Wat. direction lane, 401-style  
barrier with fence attached), planters, sidewalk.

If the safety of a bi-directional hybrid (proven German lithium-metal- 
polymer battery & proven Ford V-10 combustion engine) LRT adjacent to  
the west-side sidewalk can be sufficiently assured, then we can reap  
the great advantages of such an LRT track design & vehicle:
1) Increase intensification potential on King: In conjunction with a  
relatively inexpensive/interconnection LRT single-track "commuter"  
corridor (at least along the Iron Horse Rail/Trail from Caroline to  
under the CN mainline, then east to the GO-Train Station by King), the  
LRT on King (W to K), could operate in peak period mode (1 to 3  
stations) and non-peak mode (all the other "bus"
stops). Intensification-effects decrease with distance from station/ 
stop.
2) Further intensification: The less-rider-attracting buses would be  
replaced by the LRT (smaller versions for non-peak demand along  
streets?)
3) Better King St. access from the many east-side driveways:
4) Fairer to Downtown Waterloo small businesses: LRT track on west- 
side will be fairer to often older small business on the east-side who  
would retain convenient street parking;
5)  Community PR Improvement: Replace noisy sharp 90 degree LRT turn  
at Caroline & Allen -- instead would have a very gradual "commuter"  
LRT  50 degree track turn from Caroline onto the Iron Horse new Rail? 
Trail;
6) Better & less costly use of scarce King St. corridor space.
7) Cost (one quarter of capital cost) & bad aesthetics of overhead LRT  
wire (catenary) avoided by hybrid LRT.

Many Waterloo Region citizens still have LRT doubts. Even with an  
approach such as I have just suggested will produce some construction  
complaints which will fire-up the doubters. What are the related  
possible advantages of the inclusion of a relatively inexpensive  
addition of a Commuter Corridor along the existing rail corridor as  
described partially above (part of a north Waterloo to Ainslie  
Terminal rail-line  corridor?) ? Such an inexpensive (longer) Commuter  
Corridor can be completed very quickly with virtually no road  
disruptions. It could be in place long before King St., etc. road  
construction is completed and attract many riders because of it's  
"fast" time, capacity and World-class innovation renown. Some car  
drivers who normally use King would probably use it -- in addition to  
the longer distance commuters (W to C, C to K) and GO-Train commuters.

Regards.
Robert

PS: I also explored the side issue of  "Zeek's" mall area access to  
King: Let me suggest that access to the "Zeck's" Mall to King from  
the  new underpass road would be better for the mall if it shared the  
access road with the funeral home because it would be less disruptive  
of mall parking space. This is so because of its mall-perimeter  
location and because the mall  would only contribute half the width of  
the driveway. Also the access would be towards lower ground in the  
mall and therefore  not have to be as long. The Breithaupt/Moore  
Streets' present connection -- sloped down to King -- would be best  
maintained. This situation would mean a staggered cross-connection  
with King. To me this could work if the traffic lights at both King  
connectors work in sync. And it would work best if you have on King  
two regular size opposing traffic lanes with a shared turning/ 
emergency lane in the middle. (The middle lane could be "bisected" by  
the rail bridges middle support pillar where the  middle lane could  
"bulge" to allow traffic past a possible stalled vehicle opposite the  
pillar).


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