When construction of Waterloo Region’s light rail transit system begins next year, one of the areas to see the most significant change will be around Grand River Hospital.
In that neighbourhood, along King Street near the border of Kitchener and Waterloo, residents will see one set of traffic lights taken down, a new set put in a few metres away and several other changes to traffic patterns.
Hospital communications director Mark Karjaluoto says some of the changes were necessitated by the LRT vehicles planning to stop near the hospital’s front doors and concerns raised over what that would mean for ambulances in a hurry.
“Because it does go right through the main entrance … we’ve had some logistical needs that we’ve needed to work through,” he tells CTV.
As a result, the hospital will implement a new emergency entrance off of Mount Hope Street.
Traffic lights will also be installed at the hospital’s main entrance, while lights at King and Pine streets will be removed.
Left turns from King onto or off of Pine will be restricted.
Rapid transit director Darshpreet Bhatti says the changes were designed to provide the greatest benefit to the most people.
“We may not be able to address every single item, but it’s a very good design that will ensure you have good access to the hospital (and) good flow on King,” he says.
The changes have yet to be formally approved by the region.
