Downtown Kitchener's transformation continues with the reconstruction of the King Street streetscape—the latest example of the ongoing momentum that is reshaping and re-energizing the heart of the city.

Dynamic Downtown

The contemporary new King Street streetscape creates both a visual and physical link between millions of dollars worth of new private sector developments in the downtown including: Kaufman Lofts, Civic Centre, the Tannery District, University of Waterloo's downtown Health Sciences Campus, Wilfrid Laurier University's Faculty of Social Work, a new regional courthouse, a redeveloped Centre Block and a new digital media centre.

Designed to put pedestrians first, the new streetscape, along with these many exciting new downtown developments, is transforming King Street into a vibrant, urban, modern, environment full of creative energy—where the entrepreneurs, innovators and creators of tomorrow will live, work, learn and play.

Festival Street

Parades, festivals, ceremonies—when Kitchener celebrates, we celebrate on King—and now the community can celebrate in style. Curbs have been lowered, smaller event pads have been added, video projection has been installed high atop City Hall and in 2010, Civic Square will be expanded. Add these elements together and you've got a recipe for a premier community festival space.

Green Street

Through public consultations, citizens were clear that it is important that King Street makes a statement about the community's concern for the environment.

King Street was recently designated as a "green street' by Tree Canada for its contribution to, and leadership in, creating an environmentally sustainable street design. A myriad of environmentally sustainable design features include: 120 new street trees; bike racks to encourage cycling; environmentally friendly planter beds that collect and filter storm water; use of recycled materials in the new roadway, recyclable benches and bollards; and improved waste management practices.

Wider Sidewalks

New, wider sidewalks and gently sloping, lowered curbs improve pedestrian accessibility while contributing to the new sleek and contemporary design. In the warmer months, restaurants, coffee shops and retailers will spill out onto the new sidewalks while events and summer festivals can now enjoy much more outdoor, interactive space. Collectively, these popular, trendy, urban features will make downtown a more enriching and diverse experience.

The new sidewalks add curb appeal for stores, restaurants and condo developments and are attractive to new developments looking to locate in the region.

Brighter Nights

New and contemporary street lighting, up-lighting in the street trees and other accent lighting now brightens up the street each evening. The new lighting—which offers two lights per pole—combined with brighter, more reflective sidewalks allows for higher and more even light levels at night, fewer and less pronounced shadows and reduced glare.

More Street Trees and Planter Beds

Attractive, granite-clad planter beds spaced out throughout the three new blocks of King Street are multifunctional and serve as comfortable seating areas for pedestrians as well as helping to create a sustainable and green environment by collecting and filtering storm water before it enters the sewers.

The planter beds also act as an enhanced growing environment for 120 new street trees—80 more than the number of trees that were once planted in this portion of the downtown. The street trees—carefully selected, hardy varieties—now have proper soil quality, irrigation and drainage so that they can continue to generate shade and contribute to air quality and an appealing environment for downtown visitors to enjoy.

Bike Racks and Street Furniture

Cycling is a welcome alternative mode of transportation in the downtown. Everyone is welcome to use the additional bike racks that have been located throughout the three reconstructed blocks of King Street. If you're looking for a place to sit while you're out on a stroll on King or waiting to catch public transit, there will be additional benches and improved transit stops and shelters for your convenience.

Flexible Parking

The new streetscape design incorporates the use of custom European-style bollards which provide the downtown with much more flexibility to accommodate the more than 320,000 people who annually attend downtown events and festivals.

During the summer months when major events or street sales are occurring downtown, the bollards—freestanding, removable posts that delineate on-street parking spaces—can be used to close portions of the street to traffic or to convert on-street parking spaces into areas for outdoor cafes, patios and restaurant seating. During the winter months, the bollards can also be set to maintain on-street parking while still supporting a pedestrian-friendly environment.

Parking on King Street

Speakers' Corners

The reconstruction of King Street will breathe new life into this traditional community gathering place at the corner of King and Benton Streets. The corner is being enhanced with a contemporary look, added seating for visitors, more of the same street trees that you see along King, increased street lighting, sustainable planters and increased space for outdoor events.

An intriguing and interactive public art installation—a tribute to anamorphic art which is based on photographs and is used to create visual illusions that entertain and delight viewers—will eventually complete the site.

Contemporary Design

King Street will have some added colour and flair in the future, as new, modern light posts sport a wider variety of colorful banners advertising upcoming downtown events and festivals.

A $1.23 million injection into the project from the federal government's Community Adjustment Fund enabled the city to enhance the street further with additions including further improved night lighting, more street trees, more benches and bicycle racks, new winter decorations for the area and new contemporary furnishings for Civic Square in front of City Hall.

Clean, Inviting Style

Keeping the new street clean and free of garbage ensures that our downtown is a pedestrian friendly environment where residents, investors and shoppers will want to be. We will only be successful in keeping the street clean if we—the city, business owners and residents—work together.

A new environmentally-friendly, deep-well garbage disposal system, which reduces trash overflow and odour, has been incorporated right into the new street. The bins, for use by both pedestrians and those businesses without rear access to garbage disposal bins, have been placed in six strategic locations along the newly reconstructed streetscape.

Graffiti Resistant

Graffiti is a common sight in many downtowns and Kitchener is no exception. To ensure that the new streetscape can be maintained and cleaned more easily should graffiti occur, all of the new sidewalks, planter bed cladding, light posts and bollards will be specially-treated with a protective sealant.

Digital Art Projection

 A new state-of-the-art digital projection system provides a new visual focal point for the downtown each evening. Often referred to as "The Cube", each night the metal-clad storage room high atop City Hall becomes an immense two-sided screen displaying an array of digital media and art and promotional videos on the south and west sides.

The Cube, which can be seen for miles, signifies King Street as the heart of our city and adds an element of vitality and excitement to the downtown while providing a new digital gallery for the community's artists, a test bed for new digital projection applications and content, as well as visual support to major events and festivals being staged in the downtown.