On Friday, Kitchener and Waterloo will join a growing list of more than 45 cities across North America that have light rail or streetcars. It is an important step in the growth of Waterloo Region that is setting us apart from other communities across Ontario. The construction cranes popping up along the LRT corridor are proof that even before the line has opened it is dramatically reshaping the look and feel of the region.

Transportation has always been intertwined with how cities develop. One hundred years ago, the old streetcars dictated how virtually every city of more than 10,000 people grew, and how development took place.

Cities built at this time have an inherently walkable urban form. Streetcars were the main way of getting around, so houses, shops and factories needed to be close enough to streetcar stops so people could walk to them. This created a natural density. Streetcar routes focused on the downtown core, so a premium was put on real estate there. This led to the first skyscraper cities that emerged around transit hubs like downtown Chicago.

However, after the Second World War, it was the car, and not transit, that became the dominant form of transport. Cities spread out, as driving replaced walking and transit. Big auto companies lobbied for more roads, and governments spent vast sums of money on new highways and comparatively little on transit. Big houses with wide lots, shopping malls and large office parks are all products of this car-oriented environment. As new suburbs grew, older urban neighbourhoods declined. Businesses moved to suburban shopping malls, and land around highway interchanges, not transit hubs, became the main centres of employment and retail.

Faced with antiquated trolleys, dwindling ridership and high operating costs, most transit companies opted to replace their streetcars with buses between the 1930s and 1960s. The last streetcar in Kitchener ran in 1946, replaced by an electric trolleybus that would continue running until 1973. Electric interurban trains running down to Lake Erie carried their last passengers in 1955.

By the mid-1970s only Toronto, Cleveland, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Newark and New Orleans had any sort of urban streetcar system left in North America. Even in Toronto, where the streetcars are a much-loved icon of the city, the TTC wanted to replace them all in the 1970s.

Thankfully, an activist group called Streetcars for Toronto campaigned to retain and modernize the system. Rather than being based around nostalgia, their argument centred on environmental factors and the simple fact that streetcars carry large numbers of people more efficiently than buses. The TTC reversed its decision and placed an order for new streetcars to replace its aging fleet. These vehicles served the city for 40 years and are now being replaced with the Bombardier-built trains that are very similar to the Ion fleet in Waterloo Region.

By the early 1980s, the fortunes of the streetcar were reversing. Rebranded as light rail transit, new systems opened in San Diego, Edmonton and Calgary. These cities opted for light rail because it was far cheaper to build than a subway.

Compared with conventional streetcars, LRT vehicles are faster, as they utilize their own right-of-way, and carry more people because their trains are articulated and can be coupled together. They also require much less infrastructure than a subway and can be built into the existing urban fabric relatively easily.

Today, LRTs are popular across North America, with successful systems now running in Minneapolis, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle, to name but a few.

Why this return to urban rail transit? Reducing traffic congestion, improving commuting times and producing a cleaner environment are the driving factors of many LRT systems.

Portland's highly successful LRT emerged out of the anti-freeway movement in the 1970s. The city cancelled a downtown highway project and used the funds to build an LRT line instead. Like Waterloo Region, Portland also has an urban growth boundary, which encourages intensification and transit oriented development. In another parallel, Portland also changed its bus network from an infrequent hub and spoke system, to a grid operating around the growing LRT network. Today, Portland is one of the most livable cities in the U.S. and a cultural hub of the Pacific Northwest.

However, it is not just altruistic environmental goals that have led to a resurgence of urban rail transit. It is increasingly seen as a key driver of economic growth and development. This is particularly true of the wave of new American streetcar systems that have popped up since 2000.

This new generation of streetcars feature short lines that link downtown with one or two adjacent and usually trendy neighbourhoods. Unlike the Ion, they have neither their own lane, nor signal priority at intersections, and therefore tend to be very slow, often comparable with walking speed.

These new streetcars are about attracting investment, rather than riders. In some places, this has worked; Portland's streetcar (which complements the LRT) has seen 10,000 new houses along its short route and the new streetcar in Oklahoma City has attracted more than $1 billion in investment.

In other places, like Cincinnati, whose short streetcar loop carries only 1,500 people per day, the impact has been small. Combined, the dozen new streetcar systems opened between 2001 and 2017 carry about half as many people as the 84,000 who ride Toronto's 504 King streetcar each day.

How does the Ion fit into this picture of growing urban rail transit in North America? For starters, it is far more than just a downtown loop. It directly connects most of the main destinations in Waterloo Region: two large shopping centres, two universities, a major hospital and both downtown Kitchener and uptown Waterloo. That means it is likely to be very well used. Houston's first LRT line uses a similar principle and is one of the most successful in North America. When extended to Cambridge, Ion will connect with even more of the region's major destinations.

A key objective of the LRT, however, is not to move people, but to shape future development patterns in the region. The politics of Waterloo Region is about striking a delicate balance between rapid urban growth (we are the second fastest growing urban area in Canada) and preserving the much-loved countryside around our cities.

Until recently, two-third's of new development in the region took place in open countryside, gobbling up productive farmland. The LRT, combined with the countryside line, are meant to reverse that trend, encouraging the majority of new growth to take place through intensification of the existing urban footprint, in areas such as former factory sites or on underutilized land such as parking lots.

The LRT is, first and foremost, a growth management tool. Seen from this perspective, it has already been tremendously successful. Even before a single passenger has been carried, there has been about $3 billion in new investment along the corridor.

The combination of long-term planning and a vision to dramatically reshape the nature of development across the region are a unique combination when compared to other LRT systems across North America. It will also make us a more sustainable region, with more people able to do more activities without relying on cars. For people who need to use cars, congestion should be eased.

Just as the first generation of streetcars and the automobile did in previous eras, the Ion is set to shape the look and feel of Waterloo Region for decades to come. This will also make our region distinct from other cities in southern Ontario, and give us a density (and skyline) that won't be found in London, Windsor or St. Catharines.

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But who will be able to live in these new skyscrapers that are popping up along the Ion corridor? What new challenges does the LRT bring to our community? In my next article Tuesday, I will critically examine the ways in which the trains are reshaping neighbourhoods along North America's newest LRT line and ask whether everyone will be able to enjoy the full benefits that these trains will bring.

Brian Doucet is the Canada Research Chair in urban change and social inclusion at the University of Waterloo's School of Planning. He can be reached on Twitter @bmdoucet

- Prepare for long lines on Ion's first day