Interesting to see that after years of pressuring Metrolinx to improve GO train service to Guelph, the City of Guelph is now squarely opposing Metrolinx's efforts to do exactly that.
The comments under the article are claiming that the world will end and traffic will come to a standstill if GO Trains run regularly through Guelph. But of the 12 significant car routes that cross the tracks*, 11 already have rail overpasses! That's an impressively high level of grade separation, especially given how minimal the train traffic has been for the last few decades.
*from west to east:
Elmira Rd (rail over road)
Imperial Rd (rail over road)
Paisley Rd (rail over road)
Hanlon Pkwy / Hwy 6 (rail over road)
Edinburgh Rd (at-grade)
Gordon St (rail over road)
Wyndham St (rail over road)
Wellington St (rail over road)
Elizabeth St (rail over road)
Stevenson St (rail over road)
Victoria Rd (rail over road)
Waterson Pkwy (rail over road)
Some quotes from the article:
The recent closure of Dublin Street to through traffic and pedestrians has people concerned that other busy streets in the area could also be dead-ended.
OTHER busy streets? Dublin Street is a small residential street! Cutting it off at the tracks actually benefits it by preventing cut-through car traffic. That said, it certainly would be nice to get some kind of pedestrian conection, whether it be an underpass or a compliant at-grade pedestrian crossing.
“If Metrolinx gets its way in Guelph, Dublin Street, Glasgow Street, Yorkshire Street and Alma Street could all be permanently closed at the tracks,” local activist Susan Watson wrote in a recent letter to the editor, echoing the concerns of others who live in those areas.
“Downtown neighbourhoods will be severed in half by their chain link fences. Our Active Transportation plans will go into the shredder.”
This Susan Watson is using the usual hyperbole found in a Letter to the Editor. Yes, Metrolinx technically could close every crossing in the City but that would obviously never happen.
As far as their active transportation plans, I'd have the opposite conclusion. In the Netherlands (where I now live) rail lines are a useful tool to
support active transportation. Replacing a level crossing for cars+bikes+peds with an underpass/overpass for peds and bikes eliminates the car traffic on the street leading up to it, thereby allowing it to become a safe and (potentially) efficient bicycle route completely apart from the car traffic routes. Separating bikes and cars by paint and curbs is nice, but separating them to completely different route is far safer because it avoids the issue of turning conflicts at intersections.