This site is maintained by Sam Nabi as a record of the vibrant Wonderful Waterloo community, which was taken offline in 2014. This site is a partial archive, containing some posts from 2009-2013. To read more about the recovery effort and access the data in a machine-readable format, check out the GitHub page.
Post #4931
04-17-2010 08:10 PM
Duke-of-Waterloo
Metropolis Member Waterloo Joined Jan 2010 1008 posts
It still slays me that the Region of Waterloo downloaded Columbia Street to the City of Waterloo, when these traffic counts show that Columbia carries 30,000 + vehicles a day at intersections like Weber, King, and Philip. This is while the Region still has control over roads such as Manitou (19,000 vehicles/day), Bloomingdale (14,000), and Benton (19,170). It is not fair to Waterloo taxpayers to be responsible for Columbia Street, which clearly serves a "Regional" purpose, while at the same time paying for Manitou, Bloomingdale and Benton, which arguably do not serve a Regional purpose in Kitchener. In my opinion, this is the Region playing favourites with Kitchener and it is not right.
The Region should re-assume responsibility Columbia or download one of these above mentioned roads to the City of Kitchener out of fairness. Columbia and Manitou are very comparable roads to each other. IIRC, the Region downloaded Columbia right before it needed widening between Philip and King, and just let the City of Waterloo pay for it!
Post #4937
04-17-2010 11:49 PM
Urbanomicon
City Member Kitchener, Ontario Joined Feb 2010 968 posts
"Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."
King and Northfield is surprisingly high on that list; 6th overall, even beating out University and Weber for busiest intersection in Waterloo. I have never seen that intersection extremely busy; it is on the outskirts of the city. Are there really that many people coming in from St. Jacobs and the like?
Post #4939
04-17-2010 11:54 PM
Waterlooer
Youth Moderator Waterloo, ON Joined Apr 2010 596 posts
Originally Posted by Urbanomicon
King and Northfield is surprisingly high on that list; 6th overall, even beating out University and Weber for busiest intersection in Waterloo. I have never seen that intersection extremely busy; it is on the outskirts of the city. Are there really that many people coming in from St. Jacobs and the like?
I agree with you. Weber/University is more busy in my opinion.
Post #4945
04-18-2010 02:28 AM
mpd618
City Member Waterloo, ON Joined Jan 2010 981 posts
I'm wondering how much variability there would be in the counts from day to day. My intuition is that a difference between 40,000 and 35,000 is not "statistically significant" here.
What I'd like to see is counts for other travel modes, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. I don't believe the Region does this; or does it?
Post #4951
04-18-2010 08:47 AM
Spokes
Conurbation Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 5007 posts
Originally Posted by Urbanomicon
King and Northfield is surprisingly high on that list; 6th overall, even beating out University and Weber for busiest intersection in Waterloo. I have never seen that intersection extremely busy; it is on the outskirts of the city. Are there really that many people coming in from St. Jacobs and the like?
While you're right, it's never really extremely busy, I would say it's consistantly busy all day in both directions.
Post #4952
04-18-2010 08:48 AM
Spokes
Conurbation Member Kitchener Joined Dec 2009 5007 posts
Originally Posted by mpd618
I'm wondering how much variability there would be in the counts from day to day. My intuition is that a difference between 40,000 and 35,000 is not "statistically significant" here.
What I'd like to see is counts for other travel modes, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. I don't believe the Region does this; or does it?
They should be. But I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. This is the kind of thing that they need to do if they're really serious about getting people of out their cars, they talk a lot, but start showing some action.
Post #4955
04-18-2010 10:20 AM
IEFBR14
Transportation Moderator H2OWC Joined Mar 2010 1050 posts
Originally Posted by mpd618
What I'd like to see is counts for other travel modes, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. I don't believe the Region does this; or does it?
Originally Posted by Spokes
They should be. But I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. This is the kind of thing that they need to do if they're really serious about getting people of out their cars, they talk a lot, but start showing some action.
This is the kind of question we should ask every time some politician or bureaucrat tries to tell us how concerned they are and how much they want to help us on these sorts of issues.
Maybe then they'll slowly start to "get it."
Post #4967
04-18-2010 10:59 AM
Urbanomicon
City Member Kitchener, Ontario Joined Feb 2010 968 posts
"Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."
Some of the dates that this data was obtained are on the weekend. This study would be far more useful if they took readings for an entire (non-holiday) week, and averaged the traffic count (cars/day).
Post #26807
02-28-2011 12:21 PM
Urbanomicon
City Member Kitchener, Ontario Joined Feb 2010 968 posts
"Only the insane have the strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane."
Ars Technica has a good article on the future of traffic counts, modeling, and the role of cell phones in this process.
Post #26834
02-28-2011 08:36 PM
neonjoe
Village Member Kitchener, ON Joined Feb 2010 65 posts
MTO Traffic Counts Can Be Found Here http://www.raqsa.mto.gov.on.ca/techp...umes.nsf/tvweb I took a little time to get the counts at each exit on the Expressway in 2007 Highway 7/8 at Trussler Rd. - 30000 Fischer Hallman Rd. - 30000 Homer Watson Blvd - 54000 Courtland Ave - 79000 Highway 8 - 82700 Ottawa St - 90600 Hghway 85 - 103800
Highway 85 At: Wellington - 93600 Lancaster - 99000 Bridgeport Rd. - 72000 University Ave - 58900 King St. - 38000 Northfield - 19400 RR 15 - 19400
Highway 8 At Fairway Rd - 98200 King St E. - 94800
Originally Posted by Urbanomicon 