As part of the City’s downtown revitalization efforts, a comprehensive municipal class environmental assessment was initiated to identify / address transportation and streetscape needs experienced in Kitchener’s city centre, in particular, a six block section of King Street between Francis Street and Frederick / Benton Street. As part of the municipal class EA process, it is standard engineering practice that social, economic, environmental and cultural impacts of the project be evaluated exclusively in a transparent / traceable decision-making manner. The original intent of this project was to improve the public’s perception of downtown Kitchener by addressing safety concerns resulting from lighting deficiencies on King Street. Following a thorough infrastructure assessment, it was determined that greater deficiencies exist and a series of design elements must be taken into consideration prior to upgrading the streetlights. Given the revitalization nature of this assessment, emphasis was placed on determining the requirements of each area and developing reasonable alternatives / solutions to meet this criterion.
