Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[ZEBuilder]

Here's a little photo update on the Grand River Bridges and Frederick Street. At the Grand River Bridges clearing work has completed and site grading has commenced. Kiewit is the project manager for it but J-AAR is completing that work. At Frederick the Edna Street side of the bridge has completed all the structural caissons for the abutment, they have started initial excavation, Iron Shoring (a subsidiary of Roni) is moving all the equipment to the Bruce side now to start on those caissons. Iron has a rig set up in the center of the highway to start those 3 caissons as well.

Grand River Bridge Site
   

Frederick Bridge Site
   
   

[dscurtis]

I saw the J-AAR equipment sitting beside Shirley Ave, but I didn't realize this is what they're working on. Thanks for the update and photos!

[ZEBuilder]

For those interested the MTO has posted a contract for Detailed Design review and Contract Administration for the Grand River Bridges. 

"Part B involves the CA (Contract Administration) of the Grand River Bridge, including clearing, grubbing, earth excavation, grading, drainage, granular base, hot mix paving, structural, foundations, electrical, landscaping, and in-water works to facilitate the extension of the new Highway 7 roadway alignment. Part B follows the Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC) process for the design, bid and build phases of the project, with construction anticipated to begin on January 1, 2027, and conclude by November 24, 2030."

This is pretty typical for the MTO where they complete detailed design and the following year or two go to construction. The main hold up on the detailed design was geotech related, I'll eventually get around to posting photos of that work in progress, but they've now completed the field work and are working on the reporting for that, once that is complete detailed design is completed and it can go to the tender stage. Which is why the MTO has this new contract.

[SammyOES]

"Part B involves the CA (Contract Administration) of the Grand River Bridge, including clearing, grubbing, earth excavation, grading, drainage, granular base, hot mix paving, structural, foundations, electrical, landscaping, and in-water works to facilitate the extension of the new Highway 7 roadway alignment. Part B follows the Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC) process for the design, bid and build phases of the project, with construction anticipated to begin on January 1, 2027, and conclude by November 24, 2030."

I’m a bit confused on what the end result of this contract is. It sounds like it’s not the actual bridges? But it includes “in-water” works? Is that like piers? Or is it just like infrastructure for the piers?

[ZEBuilder]

"Part B involves the CA (Contract Administration) of the Grand River Bridge, including clearing, grubbing, earth excavation, grading, drainage, granular base, hot mix paving, structural, foundations, electrical, landscaping, and in-water works to facilitate the extension of the new Highway 7 roadway alignment. Part B follows the Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC) process for the design, bid and build phases of the project, with construction anticipated to begin on January 1, 2027, and conclude by November 24, 2030."

I’m a bit confused on what the end result of this contract is.  It sounds like it’s not the actual bridges?  But it includes “in-water” works?  Is that like piers?  Or is it just like infrastructure for the piers?

This contract is effectively finding an engineering firm to act as the project managers for the bridge construction on behalf of the MTO. For example the Frederick Street Bridge has Stantec as the CA. It varies by project but generally the CA is responsible for QA/QC of the construction, reporting tasks (daily field reports), and payment verification, acting as the middle ground between the public, MTO, and contractor.

[SammyOES]

Gotcha, thanks.

But when they say construction anticipated to be completed by Nov. 2030, is that the bridge? Or is that the preparation for the bridge?

Seems fast if this is just the managing contract and they still need to issue the actual building contracts and do all the work.

But I have literally no idea how long any of this stuff takes.

[westwardloo]

I would assume that Nov 2030 completion date would be for the full build out of the bridge. That is 4+ years out. They should have this whole hwy built in that time frame. But Ford and his developers don't get any benefit from this HWY so we will continue to see delays and it will probably be an election issue in 2029.

[SammyOES]

I guess you’re right. In my mind it’s been in the design phase for like a decade (although I realize large parts of that just had no work done) and so I assumed building it takes just as long - with large delays between individual contracts.

But maybe I should be more optimistic given they seem to be doing real stuff now.

[the_conestoga_guy]

Somewhat major update was shared in an Urban Toronto thread. 
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/ro...st-2420494

https://www.raqsesp.merx.com/public/soli...t?origin=0

Detailed design contract for the 7/85 interchange contract is out for tender. Program year is 2028, with completion listed as 2034. This is by far the most complex portion of the project, with the remainder being fairly straightforward at-grade rural freeway in design.

It's increasingly looking like MTO is shifting into major highway building mode in the late 2020's after a decade of little movement. We will be seeing Highway 7, 413, and 425 underway all at the same time, by the looks of it.

Completing the flyovers in Kitchener, along with the Grand River bridges which are already in progress, would represent the last of the "complex" construction tasks.

I believe the last pending item is the decision regarding the interchange at Highway 6 in Guelph, and if Highway 7 will fully extend to link up with Highway 6 (North to Fergus).

Forgive me, but I'm starting to think this highway may actually be built!

[westwardloo]

Wow. This is exciting news. there certainly seems to be some progress related to this HWY. I will believe it when shovels are in the ground though. 

I know people are divided on this, but I am happy to see after a decade the PC government is finally willing to invest in our Region. The local economy needs to see investments like this and 2-way all day go. Hopefully we can secure funding for Stage-2 LRT by the end of the decade and start planning for the next LRT line running East-West.

[SammyOES]

Yeah, me too.

I think it’s the best option but it’s definitely not perfect. But the thing I care about most is doing something. The status quo can’t survive with the amount of development planned along highway 7.