KITCHENER - It used to be a five- or 10-minute walk for people in the Traynor-Vanier neighbourhood to get to stores, services and jobs on Fairway Road.

But what used to be an open hydro corridor that residents used informally as a park is now a kilometre-long, fenced-off corridor for the future LRT. The fence prevents any pedestrian access to Fairway for the kilometre stretch from Wilson to Courtland avenues.

Instead of a short walk across the open hydro corridor, residents now face a walk of 20 or 30 minutes each way, or a trip on two different bus routes to get to the stores they can see from the windows of nearby apartments.

"It feels like we're cut off from our everyday needs and groceries," said Paul Metzger, who lives in the neighbourhood, which is home to hundreds of seniors, new immigrants, single parents and students who don't have access to a car.

Residents have started a petition asking the region and the city to install a pedestrian crossing somewhere along the corridor, similar to pedestrian crossings planned in Waterloo Park, on the University of Waterloo campus and near Albert McCormick arena in Waterloo.

"Other places where the LRT goes through residential areas or public parkland, there are pedestrian crossings at least every 500m. We are asking for one pedestrian crossing in this one kilometre stretch to reconnect the neighbourhood," says the petition, which has 230 supporters so far.

The official plans of both the Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener highlight the value of walkability, notes resident Samuel Kamminga. But in the Traynor-Vanier area, walkability is much more fundamental, he said.

"It's survival. It's literally how we get around. If they value walkability, it makes sense that they not overlook it in areas like this where it's essential to daily life."

The lack of access isn't just inconvenient and time-consuming, it's expensive. Conestoga College Devanshi Sanghani used to walk to get her groceries at the nearby Food Basics on Fairway Road, but for the past three months she's had to take a cab, costing $10 each way.

There's still a single gap in the fence, which will be closed off once trains are moving through. It's clear many people are still crossing there, despite the presence of LRT tracks. Several people, including a family of five, crossed at the gap in a five-minute period on Monday afternoon.

Regional Coun. Tom Galloway, who chairs the regional committee overseeing the LRT, said the need for a pedestrian crossing wasn't identified when the project was being designed back in 2013.

Now that the need has been raised, the city and region are paying for a study to determine if a crossing is feasible. Two public meetings are planned: one this fall and another in late winter or spring, said Justin Readman, who is in charge of infrastructure with the City of Kitchener.

Part of the problem is that none of the land on the Fairway Road side of the corridor is publicly owned - the many paths that led to Fairway were informal ones across private property. Putting in a formal crossing would require the city getting an easement from a private landowner, Readman said.

"People may think it's as simple as cutting the fence and putting in a paved path," Galloway said. "It's not that simple. Every four minutes a train will be going through in one direction or another. You can't have people crossing without some notification that a train is coming. That's a high-speed section."

Options could include a level crossing with gates that can be lowered across the path, which would require electrical service and electronic sensors on the tracks, or an overpass or underpass, which would need to be wheelchair accessible. Galloway estimated any option would cost at least $100,000.

"It's not cheap, but if the need is there, we'll certainly do what we have to do to make it happen," he said.

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Coun. John Gazzola, who represents the Traynor-Vanier area at Kitchener council, said he believes a solution must be found.

Putting in a crossing there, "when you look at the $1 billion-dollar LRT system, it's not going to make or break the system," Gazzola said. "But it's going to have a considerable impact on a lot of people."