WATERLOO REGION — Local residents have some changes to get used to when it comes to navigating city streets with light rail.

U-turns, eliminated left turns, banned right turns and traffic backups are just some of the changes to accommodate light rail vehicles on city streets.

Paula Sawicki, manager of strategic transportation planning, said it will be a shift for residents.

"Just watching for trains generally, just having the trains out there and not expecting them," she said.

Coun. Tom Galloway, who chairs the committee overseeing light rail, said many of the changes have already occurred as part of building the system.

However, the actual start of service in 2018 will be another adjustment.

"The trains will create another level of complexity obviously to the whole traffic situation," he said.

Galloway said he expects drivers to avoid some streets with light rail altogether.

"I think some of these streets are going to become more local streets in a sense," he said. "If you don't need to be on Charles (Street), you're probably going to be on Courtland (Avenue) for example."

Here's a look at some of the changes to prepare for:

Right turns

Banned right turns and flashing "no right turn on red" signs will be used along the transit route.

In several areas, particularly where trains are running at the side of the street, right turns on red lights will either be banned altogether or there will be a flashing signal to prevent those movements when trains are on approach.

Rapid transit staff expect this to be one of the main adjustments for drivers.

Ottawa and Mill

The Ottawa Street and Mill Street intersection is one of the most transformed intersections for light rail.

An entire leg of Mill was eliminated to accommodate the light rail tracks alongside the existing rail line.

"It's very different. It's a big change" Sawicki said.

There will be no northbound left turn from Mill to Ottawa and no right turns when the train is passing.

Drivers who want to go left on Mill will have to turn back at Courtland and Ottawa.

The region held a special public consultation to figure out how to redesign this intersection.

Courtland and Block Line

Courtland Avenue and Block Line Road will function much differently to accommodate trains and is expected to see traffic backups when trains pass through at peak times.

Here trains run on the same side in both directions on the west side of Courtland.

Double left-turn lanes from Courtland to Block Line have been added to help accommodate traffic.

When trains are passing, the only traffic that will be able to move will be northbound through traffic. All other traffic will be stopped.

"These lefts will start to back up and they'll actually block the through at times," Sawicki said. "In the peak hour, the through movements will be blocked by the southbound right and the northbound right."

Drivers on Block Line will just have to wait it out at the gated stop as trains pass through.

The design wasn't easy.

"We looked at a roundabout here. We looked at a complete grade separation. We looked at putting the station down below … This was the best performing one that we found," Sawicki said. "It was not done lightly this intersection."

King and Victoria

At this busy intersection, left turns have been eliminated except for buses and there will be no right turns when the train is passing.

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Changes here are also expected to impact traffic patterns in a big way.

With left turns eliminated, Sawicki said drivers will have to go to Weber Street or Charles Street instead.

The lefts have been eliminated in large part because of the pedestrian volume.

"We couldn't fit left turns in, but also capacity — there's just too much going on here with the LRT, the number of pedestrians, there's an awful lot of buses going through this intersection as well," Sawicki said.

U-turns

Under the Highway Traffic Act, u-turns are permitted anywhere, on any road as long as there is good line of sight, it isn't within 30 metres of a heavy rail line and there isn't a posted prohibition.

On places like Northfield Drive where left turns have been eliminated, u-turns will be helpful to navigate the new rules.

However, residents are warned that unless they are making a U-turn on an advanced green, if they are hit by another vehicle they will be at fault.

Northfield is just one area where u-turns will be permitted. Prohibitions will be posted.

A signed U-turn will be posted at Northfield Drive and King Street North to help with access to the LCBO, which was majorly impacted by the elimination of left turns.

"We blocked both of their accesses … I don't know that we did that to any other business where we blocked both of their accesses," Sawicki said.

Caroline and Erb

This intersection will take a bit of getting used to.

There will be no left turns on to Caroline from William, buses excepted.

Rights will be banned on red lights from Erb to Caroline.

Left turns will also be banned northbound on Caroline to Erb, buses excepted.

Lane reductions

Much of King Street has been reduced from four to two lanes to make way for trains.

Traffic that doesn't need to use King specifically is expected to divert to Weber Street, which was widened to four lanes.

"We did look at that traffic beforehand to make sure it would work out in the future and it's one of the main reasons that we constructed the Weber Street grade separation, so otherwise I'm not sure we would have done that," Sawicki said.