LRT construction to begin in coming months
Posted Aug 7, 2014 04:10:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Shovels should be in the ground before the end of the year to get Waterloo Region’s LRT project going.
The Region’s Commissioner of Transportation and Environmental Services, Thomas Schmidt, says exact start times have not been finalized, but he anticipates the construction will start on Caroline Street in Uptown Waterloo and in the Borden Avenue area of Kitchener.
“They’re sections that are relatively easy to work on, are discreet, and can completed this year,” says Schmidt. “I think it’s apparent to everyone [that] with winter coming, there’s only so much construction that can be done this year. [We’re] really planning a bigger start for next year, with the full summer construction season ahead of us.”
He adds that final designs are being worked on.
“We knew where the light rail was going to be; we knew most of the details for where the stations were going to be; now [we] have to provide all the details of that: exactly where the location is, exactly what the construction is that’s going to be done… all those details need to be worked out,” Schmidt says.
The region is also creating a website to keep residents informed about the construction. They hope to give people a heads up of six months.
“We’ll have a more detailed schedule for things that are happening immediately,” Schmidt says. “Things that are further out into the future, it’s more difficult for us to give details [for], but we’ll supply information for that as well.”
The LRT is expected to be done by 2017.
