Kitchener-Waterloo

LRT supporters understand traffic woes, document construction on a Facebook page

A local group that supports light rail transit admits construction has made it hard to get around in Kitchener and Waterloo. That's why it has taken to Facebook to regularly update people about where construction is happening.
Tracks are laid on Benton Street in Kitchener as construction for the Ion light rail continues. (Amanda Grant/CBC)

Chris Klein is a member of a local group that supports the light rail transit project through the region, but that doesn't mean he isn't frustrated by construction, too.

"Not everything is going up smoothly," Klein said, although he added some of the delays have been for good reasons.

"Some of the problems have turned out to be fascinating like digging up the corduroy road on King Street," he said. "Then we talk about the dome … it was quite amazing to see this giant dome shape, almost like an Oktoberfest beer tent."

The construction – and the headaches it is causing local commuters – is part of the reason the group I Support Light Rail Transit in the Region of Waterloo started documenting where construction is happening on its Facebook page.

"I know that people are really frustrated with construction, I am," he said. "I live practically in the middle of it."

He said he's talked to people he knows about the project.

"Some of them think it's a good idea. Some think it's a bad idea, some think it's generally the right thing to do, but this is really tying up our roads and our city and just want it to be done."

Group members document construction

Klein has been taking pictures for the page and he said now, there's growing interest.

"There are some people who are interested in the little details of what's going on. I get to see parts of the work on a daily basis. Other people are now posting pictures from where they are," he said.

While he and the group who started the page are supporters of the LRT, Klein admitted it has been both fascinating and disruptive watching the region's landscape change on daily and monthly basis.

Workers in Waterloo, Ont. uncovered a log-based 19th century "corduroy road" during excavations on King Street during LRT construction. (Gary Graves/CBC)

"Have we ever seen a visual transformation of large parts of Waterloo Region like this ever, in such a short span of time?" Klein said.

"I think you can be both frustrated with the disarray like disruption, but also at the same time be sort of really fascinated with the way that the landscape is changing on a day-to-day, month-to-month basis."