The Region of Waterloo celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony with the start of construction on the upcoming Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, known as ION, Aug. 21 at the future home of ION’s operations, maintenance, and storage facility on Dutton Drive in Waterloo, according to a press release from the region.
ION is scheduled to begin operating in 2017, with two stages of construction to occur in the coming years.
According to the release, Stage 1 is a “36-kilometre corridor that includes 19 kilometres of LRT from the Conestoga Mall transit terminal in Waterloo to the Fairview Park Mall transit terminal in Kitchener as well as 17 kilometres of adapted Bus Rapid Transit (aBRT) from the Ainslie Street transit terminal in Cambridge to the Fairview Park Mall transit terminal in Kitchener.” Stage 2 will see the aBRT route converted to LRT, completing the full route of LRT across the region.
With the groundbreaking ceremony of Stage 1 comes plenty of construction around town. Construction will occur at 12 locations over the next six months.
In the City of Waterloo, construction is occurring on Dutton Drive until the summer of 2016, along the CN Railway tracks from Northfield to King Street South in Waterloo, and construction will start on the southbound loop of uptown Waterloo which consists of Caroline from Erb to Allen, and Allen from Caroline to King South on or about Sept. 8 with portions of the road being closed for up to four months at a time.
With the start of construction, the Region of Waterloo has launched www.rideION.ca to keep residents up to date with all details related to ION construction, including detours and progress. Residents can sign up at the site, follow @rideIONrt on Twitter, or like rideION on Facebook to receive project updates.
