Highway 7 - Kitchener to Guelph

[westwardloo]

The reports all refer to "Grand River Bridges," yes because there will be one bridge for eastbound lanes, one for westbound.

No, there is no plan for a sidewalk or bike lanes on those Grand River Bridges, and no separate bridge for same that I have ever seen. It's easy to see why Frederick Street would be in a lot more need for that kind of infrastructure.

Seems like a missed opportunity to include a separate pedestrian bridge as part of this project. It would be a rounding error in terms of cost compared to the two car bridges. It would connect bridgeport residents to walter bean trail and could provide a safe method for all the city cyclist to get out into the country for the longer bike riders. Just seems like we could spend 1+ million on pedestrian infrastructure on a billion+ dollar project.

[ZEBuilder]

The design is for 2 bridges, one for either direction of travel. It's a controlled access freeway, you don't see pedestrians and cyclists on the existing highway, you won't on this.

Pedestrian and cyclists will not be allowed on the bridges. However it will allow for Victoria to get bike lanes/ a MUT once the new highway is completed.

[MidTowner]

The design is for 2 bridges, one for either direction of travel. It's a controlled access freeway, you don't see pedestrians and cyclists on the existing highway, you won't on this.

Pedestrian and cyclists will not be allowed on the bridges. However it will allow for Victoria to get bike lanes/ a MUT once the new highway is completed.

Excellent point. There will one day be opportunity to improve Victoria in all kinds of ways.

[westwardloo]

The design is for 2 bridges, one for either direction of travel. It's a controlled access freeway, you don't see pedestrians and cyclists on the existing highway, you won't on this.

Pedestrian and cyclists will not be allowed on the bridges. However it will allow for Victoria to get bike lanes/ a MUT once the new highway is completed.

I think most people understand this. I mean that there should have been a completely separate pedestrian bridge span as part of the project. Making these large car infrastructure projects include small upgrades to pedestrian infrastructure is a win win and is something that I think is included more in Europe. 

I do agree that HWY 7 will allow Victoria street to be downloaded from the province to the region and could be redesigned to include MUT and possible dedicated bus lanes or LRT in the future.

[tomh009]

Pedestrian and cyclists will not be allowed on the bridges. However it will allow for Victoria to get bike lanes/ a MUT once the new highway is completed and Doug Ford is no longer the premier.

I fixed that for you ... although at the rate the highway is being built, Ford will be long retired anyway by the time it's completed.

[ZEBuilder]

There may be a redesign coming to the Guelph portion of this project. 

The MTO currently has a contract in procurement that contains the following:

• GWP 3038-25-00 Highway 6 Marden Bypass Planning Study
  
• GWP 3039-25-00 Preliminary Design and Environmental Assessment for New Highway 7 from 500m west of Elmira Road to 700m south of Woodlawn Road. 
  
• GWP 3037-25-00 Preliminary Design and Environmental Assessment for Highway 6 (Hanlon Expressway) upgrade to a freeway from 250m south of Wellington Street to 700m south of Woodlawn Road. 
  
• GWP 3003-20-00 Detailed Design for Woodlawn Road Interchange
  

The Marden Bypass study only makes sense if they are planning for 6 to come into Guelph at the Hanlon, if they do that however they would need a new freeway-freeway interchange between New 7 and an extended Hanlon which would require a new EA and Preliminary Design. Which matches the contract, similarly upgrading the northern portion of the Hanlon would allow it to behave as a freeway for its entirety, south of Wellington St is planned to be upgraded to freeway standards (removal of lights at College, Stone and Downey, along with a new interchange).

The Woodlawn bridge was also supposed to go ahead to detailed design earlier (similar timing as Frederick) but waiting until this contract would allow for proper coordination between those preliminary designs and the detailed design of Woodlawn.

[SammyOES]

The Province has begun early works for the Grand River Bridges through the 2023-3045 contract, issued to Kiewit. They're clearing land that will allow for advanced grading operations to occur. This allows for some additional geotechnical work to occur for the bridges, that geotech work was delayed for various reasons that I'm not at liberty to discuss. The bridges themselves are however close to having the design and construction contract completed (pending things like the remaining geotech work).

Kiewit has a site office set up off of Shirley and have already cleared significant portions of land down around the Walter Bean Trail.

I’ve been surprised by the scale of the clearing and grading that is happening. Is it just preparation for the bridge work or is it also starting clearing and grading for the rest of the highway?

It also seems like they must have some rough idea of the bridge design in order to know what to grade/clear. But maybe they don’t need anything more than rough location?

[ZEBuilder]

The Province has begun early works for the Grand River Bridges through the 2023-3045 contract, issued to Kiewit. They're clearing land that will allow for advanced grading operations to occur. This allows for some additional geotechnical work to occur for the bridges, that geotech work was delayed for various reasons that I'm not at liberty to discuss. The bridges themselves are however close to having the design and construction contract completed (pending things like the remaining geotech work).

Kiewit has a site office set up off of Shirley and have already cleared significant portions of land down around the Walter Bean Trail.

I’ve been surprised by the scale of the clearing and grading that is happening.  Is it just preparation for the bridge work or is it also starting clearing and grading for the rest of the highway?

It also seems like they must have some rough idea of the bridge design in order to know what to grade/clear.  But maybe they don’t need anything more than rough location?

This is preparation for the bridge work, they are conducting clearing and grading on everything within the scope of the bridge contract. Nothing right now that is being cleared is associated with the rest of the highway unless they have modified the contract since I saw it last.

They have way more than a rough idea of the bridge design, they're past the 90% design stage and know exactly where piers are going along with dozens of other aspects, they have a few outstanding issues to work through and then the bridge design is complete but those issues won't substantially change the design.  In general when it comes to design work there are minimal changes between 90% and 100%, 60% and 90% are often very similar as well so they could have started grading works at 60% and have minimal rework when it comes time to actual construction.

[SammyOES]

They have way more than a rough idea of the bridge design, they're past the 90% design stage and know exactly where piers are going along with dozens of other aspects, they have a few outstanding issues to work through and then the bridge design is complete but those issues won't substantially change the design.  In general when it comes to design work there are minimal changes between 90% and 100%, 60% and 90% are often very similar as well so they could have started grading works at 60% and have minimal rework when it comes time to actual construction.

That makes sense.  Thanks.

I saw one weird summary of a contract (tender?) that seemed to say completion was in 2029.  Do you know if that is the whole bridge or just the design or something in between or just some nonsense I misinterpreted?

[ZEBuilder]

They have way more than a rough idea of the bridge design, they're past the 90% design stage and know exactly where piers are going along with dozens of other aspects, they have a few outstanding issues to work through and then the bridge design is complete but those issues won't substantially change the design.  In general when it comes to design work there are minimal changes between 90% and 100%, 60% and 90% are often very similar as well so they could have started grading works at 60% and have minimal rework when it comes time to actual construction.

That makes sense.  Thanks.

I saw one weird summary of a contract (tender?) that seemed to say completion was in 2029.  Do you know if that is the whole bridge or just the design or something in between or just some nonsense I misinterpreted?

From what I know design of the bridges should be done this year, the contract is tentatively set to go to tender next year (2027) as for completion of the bridges it's likely 2 to 3 years after the contract is awarded. The redesign of the Hanlon end of 7 is expected to be completed by the end of 2030, that design tender (I posted about it a few posts ago) has 2029 as the program year. That's really been the only thing for this stretch of 7.

There's a handful of contracts coming up for resurfacing of the expressway out to New Hamburg and then up to the north end of Waterloo, along with bridge rehab (including interchange redesigns) and a rather complicated culvert replacement which are all coming in the next few years but most of that was 2027/2028.