[TransitBart]

That's low, even for you.

But funny. Everyone should google 'Darwin Awards' or click here. Hehe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards

 

[44 North]

A rolling cut and cover project would be even worse in terms of impacting traffic. Just imagine scenes of Bathurst and Eglinton, or Leslie and Eglinton. Then multiply that 100 times over the entire stretch of Eglinton and that's what we'd be seeing right now.

Add Crosslinx' inability to coordinate closures properly and the end result would be just nightmarish.

The idea though is that it's 'rolling'. So instead of the norm of 5, 10, 20km of heck for years. It'd be 250m-500m of hell for months (or weeks). Then that shifts over to the next 0.25km section. Maybe it's not in fact better. And it's hard to make comparisons to quick and dirty tactics from the 50s or 60s that had bare stations sans elevators. But it does seems like it makes sense. Very few drive Eglinton end-to-end today during construction. Having a rolling construction project wouldn't change things much in that regard.

 

[BurlOak]

The idea though is that it's 'rolling'. So instead of the norm of 5, 10, 20km of heck for years. It'd be 250m-500m of hell for months (or weeks). Then that shifts over to the next 0.25km section. Maybe it's not in fact better. And it's hard to make comparisons to quick and dirty tactics from the 50s or 60s that had bare stations sans elevators. But it does seems like it makes sense. Very few drive Eglinton end-to-end today during construction. Having a rolling construction project wouldn't change things much in that regard.

I was thinking of a shorter construction zone - maybe 100m - with 50m staging areas at either end. Operations would be 1) excavation and bedding, 2) laying precast tunnel (likely post-tensioned together), 3) waterproof roof and joints, 4) backfill and 5) pave. Each operation is about 20m long (8 precast tunnel segments laid in each operation) and it moves along at about 40m per week (maybe half the speed of a TBM). Thus, each area is closed for about 5 or 6 weeks. Of course emergency exits and stations need longer, and they would be decked over during construction as they would take 18 to 24 months.
Unlike TBM, it does not have to be continuous, so they could have multiple crews staggered by 4 kilometers (it's pretty basic work so finding multiple crews is not hard) working at about 2 km per year.

 

[Steve X]

I wonder if they are trying to get as much of the bigger intersections out of the way as possible before the summer ends. Once school starts, traffic picks up.

 

[Amare]

I wonder if they are trying to get as much of the bigger intersections out of the way as possible before the summer ends. Once school starts, traffic picks up.

We'd be giving Crosslinx way too much credit if they had that kind of clear thought process (which they have shown they dont have with consecutive intersection closings). In Warden's case, it wouldnt be ready until mid-September at the earliest if everything goes as planned. I'd pad an extra week or two for delays so that would push that intersection's completion off to late September.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

My biggest surprise was in the east, where in the above ground zone there seemed to be no order or logic to which sections were barely started, versus had the base layer poured, versus had track laid or in progress. I appreciate that preliminary work needs will vary by location.... all the same it seemed like the strategy was, tear up everywhere and leave it all a mess until each small bit is completed. I had expected more of a start at one end and gradually move along, leaving completed track and road as the work zone moved along.

That's exactly what I've been saying they have been doing work on the surface at random when what they should be doing is maybe have one or two crews work from each end one from Kebedy and one from Laird and then they meet up at the portholes for Since Centre. Instead, they have construction sites in different sates in each section for example at Victoria Park and Eglington to the east they are laying track and to the west, they don't even have the centre of the road ready for the track at all.

 

[Allandale25]

Flyover video

 

[Tunafish13]

Wow, great video, awesome progress.

Anyone know what the 2 structures are around Warden? Is the station there supposed to be covered?

 

[robmausser]

Flyover video

isnt it great how they put the LRT ROW in the middle of the road at Leslie, so trains will now have to stop and let cars turn left onto Leslie, instead of putting it on the south side of the street, where it would be unaffected by the intersection?

... F@&#ing morons man...

 

[cplchanb]

isnt it great how they put the LRT ROW in the middle of the road at Leslie, so trains will now have to stop and let cars turn left onto Leslie, instead of putting it on the south side of the street, where it would be unaffected by the intersection?

... F@&#ing morons man...

Dude, every other surface stop will be straddled by the road so I see no need to swivel the entire ROW for 1 small section of the route. It will also detrimentally affect traffic flow for both lrt and cars as they will have to slow down to negotiate the S bends.
If all the surface stops were lined up the same then fine, but its only for leslie.

 

[robmausser]

Dude, every other surface stop will be straddled by the road so I see no need to swivel the entire ROW for 1 small section of the route. It will also detrimentally affect traffic flow for both lrt and cars as they will have to slow down to negotiate the S bends.
If all the surface stops were lined up the same then fine, but its only for leslie.

No S bend needed, the LRT goes underground in a portal shortly later for Don Mills Road.

So, all you do is have the LRT ROW on the south side of Eglinton from the Laird Portal to the Don Mills Portal back underground, going under the road. The Don Mills station could have been built on a slight angle to negotiate underground back to the middle of the corridor eastward. The LRT has to slow down at the stop anyways.

Boom, no s bend, no interference with the road. A completely grade separated section from Laird to Don Mills.

 

[cplchanb]

No S bend needed, the LRT goes underground in a portal shortly later for Don Mills Road.

So, all you do is have the LRT ROW on the south side of Eglinton from the Laird Portal to the Don Mills Portal back underground, going under the road. The Don Mills station could have been built on a slight angle to negotiate underground back to the middle of the corridor eastward. The LRT has to slow down at the stop anyways.

Boom, no s bend, no interference with the road. A completely grade separated section from Laird to Don Mills.

The alignment will be affected all the way to the Brentcliffe portal if you want to maintain the straight. I'm not sure if its worth realigning the entire stretch of eglinton from laird to don mills just for leslie. Also
structurally it will also be affected to build a tunnel right next to a shored up section of land. Im sure many traffic engineers were consulted on this and this is the best result overall. Besides, they can get signal priority to easily address your concerns of leslie.

 

[BurlOak]

Dude, every other surface stop will be straddled by the road so I see no need to swivel the entire ROW for 1 small section of the route. It will also detrimentally affect traffic flow for both lrt and cars as they will have to slow down to negotiate the S bends.
If all the surface stops were lined up the same then fine, but its only for leslie.

Just at the Brentcliffe portal, Eglinton has a kink in it. So it would not have had the S curve. It would have just moved that kink from the Brentcliffe area to the Don Mills area.

Google Maps

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[BurlOak]

isnt it great how they put the LRT ROW in the middle of the road at Leslie, so trains will now have to stop and let cars turn left onto Leslie, instead of putting it on the south side of the street, where it would be unaffected by the intersection?

... F@&#ing morons man...

Dude, every other surface stop will be straddled by the road so I see no need to swivel the entire ROW for 1 small section of the route. It will also detrimentally affect traffic flow for both lrt and cars as they will have to slow down to negotiate the S bends.
If all the surface stops were lined up the same then fine, but its only for leslie.

It was put in the centre of the road by planners and designers that had no plans or even remote thoughts of a DRL subway being built.
When this line was proposed to be fully grade-separated in 2011 - it would have worked perfectly with a DRL.
Those that worked to cancel the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown and put this line in the middle of the road, especially through Leslie, are the same ones who never want a DRL built.

 

[cplchanb]

It was put in the centre of the road by planners and designers that had no plans or even remote thoughts of a DRL subway being built.
When this line was proposed to be fully grade-separated in 2011 - it would have worked perfectly with a DRL.
Those that worked to cancel the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown and put this line in the middle of the road, especially through Leslie, are the same ones who never want a DRL built.

DRL was never thought to have gone up to here to the science centre and besides the currently alignment along leslie will have little bearing on the interchange station.
What about the celestica ramp on the southside? you will have to redevelop the entire intersection there if you put the row on top of it.