Skeezix
Senior Member
I walked over the bridge for the first time ever this past Easter weekend. It's a fantastic bridge, and serves as a link to the area's former character. It would be a huge loss to lose this bridge.
|
|
|
- Thread starter Mike in TO
- Start date
darth_freeman
Active Member
I guess no one actually read the RFP...the existing bridge will be rehabilitated, not replaced. The rehab is to last another 30 years.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
I guess you haven't read any of the conversation going on over the last few pages...
No one has said the bridge is being replaced.
the lemur
Senior Member
The P de L works for me as a way of getting from Portland to Dan Leckie and the waterfront but I wouldn't use it if my objective were to get somewhere directly on Bathurst. If the truss bridge has to stay, maybe the sidewalks beside it could be widened to allow both bikes and peds.
Sidewalk riding is illegal (unless you're a child) so it wouldn't make logical sense to encourage it ... unless it were a separated bike lane and kept pedestrians and bikes separate.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
I wonder if it would be possible to add a new sidewalk just outside of the trusses, and convert the current sidewalk into a bike lane?
Edit: Did a quick Google search and found this proposal to do exactly that to a bridge in San Fran:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Bridge-bike-path-plans-move-forward-2399824.php
Edit: Did a quick Google search and found this proposal to do exactly that to a bridge in San Fran:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Bridge-bike-path-plans-move-forward-2399824.php
junctionist
Senior Member
That's what I was envisaging.
salsa
Senior Member
Why not 50 years instead?
dowlingm
Senior Member
Because they figure we'll have given up worrying about character for an Meccano set bridge by 30 years out.
DSC
Superstar
30 years seems to be a fairly standard time to aim for. In condominiums the Reserve Fund Studies also look ahead 30 years.
muller877
Senior Member
If this was done there would be serious issues with the northbound bike traffic and the right hand turns onto Front. The trusses would make this a blind right corner and even the most careful motorist could have a collision with a bike.
Imagine a situation where a car is going less than 5 km/hr trying to turn right. A bike is going 30 km/hr. The car can't see the cyclist (trusses block the view). Bam!
Counterintuitive but having bikes in mixed traffic here is probably safer for cyclists than a separated ROW outside the truss span.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Rust would appear before then. It'll need sanding, painting, replacement of rusted metal, etc. before 50 years. Just leave your metal tools out in the weather and see how long it would last. Not even the Gardiner expressway would last 50 years after the new route is built before it would need work done on it.
crs1026
Superstar
There's nothing wrong with replacing it provided whatever you replace it with is actually pretty. The new bridge could be real or faux truss style, respecting the current streetscape but improving traffic flow. Additional width would be safer, especially on the southern part where the girders create a wall.
If the existing span has heritage value, shift it west to become the footbridge instead of whatever has been designed.
- Paul
If the existing span has heritage value, shift it west to become the footbridge instead of whatever has been designed.
- Paul
dowlingm
Senior Member
Given how industrial looking it is, maybe there's a place for it in the Portlands redevelopment.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Except some of the bridges in the Portlands are in for replacement/expansions of their own, given the upcoming changes.
AoD