7993 replies to this topic

[Bingo]

I do. It seems ludicrous that the bridge could carry a pair of Budd cars at some 50 tons each one day, then be unsafe for pedestrians the next. Its extremely close proximity to the present construction suggests it would have been problematic had it stayed.


I've heard a rumour the road span was (or is) on the verge of being condemned, which would not go over well if it were found to be true.

Right, and if you tear it down then there is no going back, no matter what comes down the harbour.

[Mike K.]

I do. It seems ludicrous that the bridge could carry a pair of Budd cars at some 50 tons each one day, then be unsafe for pedestrians the next. Its extremely close proximity to the present construction suggests it would have been problematic had it stayed.


I've heard a rumour the road span was (or is) on the verge of being condemned, which would not go over well if it were found to be true.

 

No doubt it's removal was done to a) assist with the construction effort and b) make the case for replacement all the more appropriate.

 

It's also bizzarro how the road span hasn't encountered any issues like it did while the dust was in the air regarding replacement/repair. It's been operating without fault for several years.

 

Just saying.

[Holden West]

^Yeah, didn't they have to do a bit of really minor motor maintenance a while ago and that was the only issue we've heard about in the last three or four years? I wish the new bridge will have such an impressive reliability record but I doubt it.

[Mike K.]

Yup, that was it. Admittedly it was regular maintenance but passed off as a do-or-die scenario and a harbinger of things to come.

 

Four years later...

[HB]

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Edited by HB, 11 November 2014 - 10:47 AM.

[Mike K.]

It may be well known by yourself and others but it's not well know by the average Joe.

[HB]

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Edited by HB, 11 November 2014 - 10:47 AM.

[Mike K.]

Hmmm. Was this at all covered by the mainstream media at the time?

[Bingo]

I do. It seems ludicrous that the bridge could carry a pair of Budd cars at some 50 tons each one day, then be unsafe for pedestrians the next.

 

The steel approaches on each end of where the rail span was have been safely used by construction equipment from time to time.

 

[HB]

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Edited by HB, 11 November 2014 - 10:47 AM.

[HB]

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Edited by HB, 11 November 2014 - 10:48 AM.

[Hotel Mike]

Well, let's hope the new bridge will be completed with no injuries to the good folks of Victoria.

[thundergun]

Gary H - we miss your regular updates on the bridge and the surrounding area. Stop enjoying your new place so much already and get back to reporting! 

[Gary H]

  Yeah, I've been quite the slacker lately!
 
They were delivering truckload after truckload of new dirt (the brown pile nearest Johnson St.).  There is a hug pile of dirt to the left near the shipyard that was removed when cutting the swath for the new road to the bridge but they're not using it.  I guess this is some real special dirt as the dump trucks were going up Harbour to Tyee then back over the JSB, up Johnson and left on Government.  If they were getting their load from the materials yard on Bay I think they would have gone over the Bay St bridge instead.
 
The other thing to notice is the 6 columns for what must be the resting platform.  From my perspective they look really close to the land but the webcam shows them as being out in the water.  Another 6 columns will be poured at the waters edge as is shown in their rendering.

Follow the link to flickr if you want to study the photo in detail. 

Edited by Gary H, 11 August 2014 - 03:16 PM.

[Gary H]

Looks like they're going to be blasting the remaining rock.  Previously they had been removing the rock using a "loud" compression hammer.

 

[Gary H]

Over the past week there has been a steady stream of double trailer dump trucks removing the massive pile of dirt created when they cut the swath for access to the new bridge.  They're about half way along.
 
You can also see excavation action on the Janion lot in the background.
 

Edited by Gary H, 19 August 2014 - 08:09 AM.

[Gary H]

Removing blasted rock and intersection trench digging.  They brought in a hydro-excavation truck for some of the work, probably due to lots of buried utilities.   From the 20th...

 

 

More moving of earth from one spot to another...

 

 

They're working on Saturday.  Ah, and we now have a clear slope from the intersection to Johnson St.

[Hotel Mike]

One they open up the new intersection at Esquimalt and Harbour Roads, will the old railway overpass and s curve be taken down?

[sdwright.vic]

Yes... Harbour Rd is going to go through there to form the new entrance to the hotel.

[sdwright.vic]

Yes... Harbour Rd is going to go through there to form the new entrance to the hotel.