KITCHENER - Closing Duke Street to accommodate the future transit hub at King and Victoria will cause traffic snarls that spill into the surrounding residential neighbourhood, residents warned Thursday at a public information night.

Construction on the transit hub should begin in spring 2021, on a 1.6-hectare parcel of land on the northeast corner of King and Victoria streets, extending to Duke Street and the rail line. Construction of the hub, including a transit hall, public square, bus loop and passenger pickup and drop-off, as well as two train platforms, would likely take until the end of 2022.

The transit hub will bring together light rail, intercity and local buses, GO Transit and Via Rail, and, in later phases of development, a mix of commercial, residential and office development.

Although the notice for the meeting mentioned "the potential future closure of Duke Street" at the railway tracks, officials made it clear Thursday that the closure is almost inevitable: the typical GO train is 12 cars long and needs a platform 315 metres long. The only way to accommodate that size platform is to have it extend across Duke Street, necessitating the street closure, or have it extend across King Street.

But pushing the platform toward King would force the realignment of a spur rail line that skirts Victoria Park, and require property purchases that affect several homes, and isn't feasible, said Joel Dempster, Metrolinx project manager for the transit hub.

Closing Duke will force traffic onto an increasingly small number of residential streets, residents warned, noting that Ahrens and Waterloo streets are already closed, Breithaupt Street is dead-ended, and left turns are banned at King and Victoria. Transport trucks sometimes wander onto those streets, which also see lots of traffic from buses of Google employees.

"It's an old neighbourhood," said George Darosa. "It's a wonderful neighbourhood. We're almost boxed in and it's going to get worse."

Deborah Eames agreed. "Traffic on Wellington is terrible and it's going to get worse as you close all those ways into our neighbourhood."

Dempster said there will be a detailed traffic study of how the closure would affect traffic on streets and intersections between King and Weber, from Wellington to Young.

Others questioned the wisdom of providing only about 100 parking spots at the transit hub, about the same number as at the existing VIA station.

"I would love it if everybody rode their bike or took the Ion to the station, but I don't think that's going to happen," said Mac Graham, who worried that drivers will clog nearby streets, which are all narrow and lined with homes, in search of parking.

But others urged officials to make access to the transit hub as easy as possible for pedestrians and cyclists, saying the tracks are a major barrier for people wanting to walk or cycle downtown.

Victoria and King are busy streets that are not inviting to walk or cycle on, said Matt Rodrigues. He urged officials to ensure the hub uses creative designs like all-way pedestrian scramble crossings and provides wide, well-cleared sidewalks. "Really make it appealing and safe to walk and cross these roads," he said.

The public meeting, attended by about 50 people, was the first on the transit hub in some time. About a year ago, the region abandoned its plan to have a master developer look after the entire site and decided to pursue the transit infrastructure on its own.

The region is committed to keeping people informed as the project rolls out, said Ellen McGaghey, project manager for the region. A bigger public meeting is planned in January, with concept designs, an online survey and regular updates online.

cthompson@therecord.com

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