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Cambridge Pedestrian Bridge
#31
(10-06-2017, 04:41 PM)GtwoK Wrote: Well, if the aforementioned pedestrian bridge between Eagle and Fountain gets built, that'll be a way of avoiding it!

Oh, absolutely!  I don't want to go too off-topic here, but I should clarify that there is a moderately-easy way to get through the King/Fountain/Shantz Hill at rush hour... it's just really unpleasant, and the ride down through the park in Cambridge and back up the Blair Trail is a great way to unwind after a long day at the office. It adds about 20 minutes of riding.

There's a little lookout where I marked "b" at the top of this page, which, if I recall correctly, was part of this old former rail bridge.
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#32
(10-07-2017, 05:51 AM)Canard Wrote: There's a little lookout where I marked "b" at the top of this page, which, if I recall correctly, was part of this old former rail bridge.

I never realized that there used to be a rail bridge there! Here's the history:

https://www.therecord.com/living-story/7...s-closed-/
...K
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#33
Curiously it doesn't mention the Preston to Blair branch, which had a bridge farther up stream.

http://www.walterbeantrail.ca/prestonberlin.htm
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#34
(10-07-2017, 09:10 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: Curiously it doesn't mention the Preston to Blair branch, which had a bridge farther up stream.

http://www.walterbeantrail.ca/prestonberlin.htm

That was here  — that gently curved strip of trees east-southeast marks the rail line. The one further south with the surviving pier fragment was the pre-Fountain road bridge.
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#35
(10-05-2017, 11:21 PM)KevinL Wrote: Well, this one needed nearly zero structural work - the flood embankments combined with the existing old pillar meant they pretty much just needed to fabricate the decks. And, this one is located right next to the densest part of the city to connect it to an emerging new centre and improve the core's walkability. I can't blame them for going ahead.

Not even though the area was already serviced by two other bridges within 5 minutes of each other that lead to the densest part of downtown and  the fact they actually had no idea if they could use that pillar when they started out or that a bridge could have better served people at the highschool and the surrounding delta area and trails on both sides of the river which are much further away from a crossing.
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#36
(10-06-2017, 10:31 AM)Canard Wrote:
(10-05-2017, 10:28 PM)darts Wrote: A much better place would be adding onto the railway bridge to allow students cross the river to go to GCI, currently most students cross on the railway bridge

That is absolutely horrifying. Sad Have you seen this happening first-hand?

There is no highschool on the other side of the river and a number of homes.
They do have those lookouts to give them space if a train comes though but over the years people have fallen off. The other end goes right to the highschool so it certainly is convenient
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#37
It's discouraging that so many people see this and a bridge at GCI as an either-or scenario. Build both!
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#38
(10-08-2017, 11:15 AM)DHLawrence Wrote: It's discouraging that so many people see this and a bridge at GCI as an either-or scenario. Build both!

Cambridge has an asset infrastructure deficit, building more new things when they can't afford to take care of existing problems isn't a solution either.
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#39
So first it's "A better place would be GCI" and now it's "Don't build anything at all"?
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#40
(10-08-2017, 12:09 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: So first it's "A better place would be GCI" and now it's "Don't build anything at all"?

No, it was in response to the idea that building both was a good idea, the one downtown is much lower in priority that the city should be looking at.
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#41
(10-08-2017, 12:09 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: So first it's "A better place would be GCI" and now it's "Don't build anything at all"?

What? No one is saying that at all. We’re saying if we are looking at spending some money on one bridge, why not build it in an area that could desperately use some connectivity, instead of adding it where connectivity already exists?
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#42
No, that *was* the argument made. Someone posted another bridge would be better. I posted build both. The next post was "Fix what you have already".

As someone else said, this one was already half-finished because the pier in the middle of the river was there. It's a discount piece of infrastructure for an area that's soon going to be far denser, likely requiring more connectivity. Plus we want to encourage people to walk or use bikes; neither the Concession nor Main Street bridges are really all that welcoming to bikes, so this will provide an alternative for people who otherwise would probably drive instead.

Was the money for the GCI bridge even there? The GCI bridge is either going to need to be strong enough to span a far wider part of the river without a central support or it will have to be attached to the CP bridge, requiring a no doubt costly legal deal with them. Plus it will likely need either high walls or an all-over cage to ward off jumpers, further adding to the cost. And that's after a design process that hasn't been paid for; this pedestrian bridge was done by students at the architecture school for a grad project.
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#43
(10-08-2017, 12:40 PM)DHLawrence Wrote: No, that *was* the argument made. Someone posted another bridge would be better. I posted build both. The next post was "Fix what you have already".

As someone else said, this one was already half-finished because the pier in the middle of the river was there. It's a discount piece of infrastructure for an area that's soon going to be far denser, likely requiring more connectivity. Plus we want to encourage people to walk or use bikes; neither the Concession nor Main Street bridges are really all that welcoming to bikes, so this will provide an alternative for people who otherwise would probably drive instead.

Was the money for the GCI bridge even there? The GCI bridge is either going to need to be strong enough to span a far wider part of the river without a central support or it will have to be attached to the CP bridge, requiring a no doubt costly legal deal with them. Plus it will likely need either high walls or an all-over cage to ward off jumpers, further adding to the cost. And that's after a design process that hasn't been paid for; this pedestrian bridge was done by students at the architecture school for a grad project.
I was speaking more from the perspective of before building this bridge if they were interested in building a bridge they should have connected GCI. 

The " fix what you have already" post was replying to your post that I saw as just build another bridge, no big deal that a bridge was built in a location already well severed by bridges.

And I don't know how much you have followed the progress on the bridge downtown but they actually didn't know before starting if they would be able to use that pier, and it was expected to go over budget before they even started and before if they knew if that pier was usable which is poor planning to begin with.

The idea that this bridge would switch people to biking or walking instead of driving is a stretch, there are 2 bridges nearby, within a 5 minute walking distance, and the main street bridge connects to anything worthwhile downtown. I'm not sure what people would decide concession is too far or main st is too far to get to by bike but this new bridge is just that much closer. The concession st bridge has bike lanes, Main st has a sidewalk that is blocked off from traffic and is wide enough to handle bikes.  

Putting a bridge that serves GCI would connect people from one side of town to the other and actually would have a chance of having people choose to ride or walk across the bridge instead of driving downtown to come back up to go to GCI or the delta area, that bridge would be better suited to getting people out of cars.

Money wasn't there for the GCI bridge, but they could have put this money towards it. School of architecture could have still done it as a grad project. It would require talking with CP to piggyback off of their bridge but I think they would be welcome to a real alternative that gets people off of their bridge that doesn't really cost them anything and reduces their risk and liability. It would need some sort of wall, like any other bridge, it would need a ceiling, to deflect any debris from the trains above (I am picturing something along the lower portion of the bridge if it can handle it. Maybe it's not doable but it certainly is much more worthwhile than a bridge downtown, I mean maybe we need a nridge between Park and Main street to serve LA Franks because there isn't anything nearby.
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#44
@DHLawrence: If you can spend 1 unit of money, and make things 1 unit better, or, spend 2 units of money, And make things 1.1 units better, which should you do?
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#45
(10-06-2017, 12:33 PM)Coke6pk Wrote:
(10-06-2017, 12:29 PM)Canard Wrote: I am truly unaware.  How could I be aware?  I don't live in the area...

I only drive by once or twice a month if we happen to have errands in the area, and I glance up at 60 km/h for 0.3 seconds and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!", or, when I bike by a couple of times a week, at 25-30 km/h, and say "Oh cute, a train bridge!".  If someone is crossing it is entirely possible I have never seen it because the crossing doesn't line up with when I am there!

If that is happening even once per day, the police and railway people absolutely need to get on that!  Someone will get killed.

With electronic messaging, its hard to read the context sometimes.  Wink

I would hazard a guess it happens multiple times a day, by multiple people.  CP Police are very much aware of the issue, and the railway fences it off, and the kids cut a hole in the fence the next day.  As are all teenagers, they are invincible and think nothing of the shortcut to shave 20 min off the walk home.

Coke

The Galt CPR rail bridge crossings have been happening. likely almost daily for, as long as one can remember. The CP Rail bridge was built in 1917... most users of the bridge are those going to Galt Collegiate. This short cut practice continues today ... it's a risk reward for those who choose to take the bridge short cut.
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