Trails

[UrbanCanoe]

The spur line trail is closed between Roger St and Moore Ave though it is still passable this evening (May 9). Looks like crews will be finishing the landscaping along this section over the next couple of days.

   

[danbrotherston]

The spur line trail is closed between Roger St and Moore Ave though it is still passable this evening (May 9). Looks like crews will be finishing the landscaping along this section over the next couple of days.

Am I to understand that *both* commuter trails between Uptown and Downtown are closed right now?

*sigh*...

[jwilliamson]

   

The spur line is open again between Moore and Waterloo

[Canard]

Horray, and with grass!

I saw a big wide bridge being staged outside of Eagle Bridge this morning. Perhaps it’s the one for the new Central Promenade?!

[Pheidippides]

Week 2 progress on IHT:
   
   
   

[Pheidippides]

When I saw the the central promenade project was using some techniques to make the trail last longer and easier to fix I asked the City of Kitchener if they were using any similar techniques on the IHT upgrades. This was their response:

"The new reconstruction of the Iron Horse trail will not be using aluminum edge restraints. The granular base is being constructed wider than the compacted asphalt layers to provide structural support and adequate base for the top asphalt paving. The asphalt will also be tampered at a 45 degree angle to meet with the granular base. The strength of the asphalt paving is a direct correlation to the prepared granular base under the trail. The City of Kitchener has specified an asphalt paving detail/specification which should prolong the life of the new reconstruction of the Iron Horse Trail."

I don't know much about construction techniques. Can someone comment on if that is a good way to ensure the quality and longevity of the trail? Having ridden/run lots of trails with the angled edge I know that it seems like that is the first place that starts to breakdown so I am skeptical that more shouldn't be done.

[clasher]

I think frost heaving is still the biggest problems asphalt faces around here and it seems to affect the trail surface in the middle, not just the edges... that and tree roots. I would imagine if the base is done right and drain well there will be less chance of cracking at the edges. I haven't looked at the trail edges close to my place but I will now! I think the IHT has the advantage of being built mostly over a railway base that was already built to withstand more weight and to drain well.

A lot of roads seem to start cracking at the edges too, the worst place I've seen this recently is on the paved "bicycle shoulder" on highway 6 going up to Tobermory, it's basically made it unrideable as a paved shoulder for riding, and it's the only road through that area. The nicest roads I've ridden on were in Alberta where the shoulder seems 3 metres wide and there is a rumble strip on the left edge. If the cracking starts it has a long way to go before it affects the riding area, but I suspect they spend a bit more money on the main roads there per km than we do in Ontario.

[KevinT]

Yeah, I hate the big hill up toward the washrooms and then the pothole-laden road up there.  This is much better!

The footers for the bridge are really coming along, too - it'll be exciting when the span shows up!

The excitement is at hand.  I was behind the two pieces of it on the expressway on my way to work this morning, and followed them up University to Seagram just to make sure that they really were what I thought they were:

[KevinL]

It's happening!

[tomh009]

Yeah, I hate the big hill up toward the washrooms and then the pothole-laden road up there.  This is much better!

The footers for the bridge are really coming along, too - it'll be exciting when the span shows up!

The excitement is at hand.  I was behind the two pieces of it on the expressway on my way to work this morning, and followed them up University to Seagram just to make sure that they really were what I thought they were:

Bridgespotting!

[Pheidippides]

Yes, they are focusing on the bridge area. With an infinite size of team, anything is possible. But it is finite.

They don't need an infinite sized team, they need one that fulfills their end of the contract. In taking the contract the contractor is agreeing that they can complete all of the specified work with the required 6 month time period in the budget/bid they have supplied; if the contractor is just low-balling their bid to ensure that they get the contract and has no intention or ability to actually meet the deadline they should be held accountable/penalized. It begs the question, why isn’t there more accountability in these construction contracts? 
 
Work was started at the beginning of September 2017 and was expected finish about approximately 6 months later (end of February 2018), but let’s give them March as well; so that is 7 months to finish the work.
 
Now, we have a little thing around here called winter, so, baring a construction dome or a freakishly warm and snow free winter, progress will be slow at best for at least 3 of those months (say December, January, and February). Let’s also assume the contractor was overly optimistic in their hopes of a short and mild in winter ensuring their progress toward meeting their timelines, and because real winter set in pretty early and hard this past season we cut the contractor some slack and tack those three months on at the end to extend the deadline to the end of June 2018. We now have a 6 month project stretching out to 10 months; even that seems optimistic at this point.
 
I will be very pleasantly surprised if the central promenade is completed before Canada Day and that’s with adding 66% more time to the original deadline.
 
My point is, the City/Region should put more penalties in their RFPs related to timeliness and quality. I don’t blame the contractors for taking advantage of the situation. If they can make more money using fewer staff and equipment, and cutting corners on materials and methods (which also generates new work because rebuilt infrastructure breaks down faster) while still getting new work than why not take advantage of that situation? (I am not implying poor methods or materials were used in this specific project, but in a general sense)

[Canard]

Ok, all I was saying is... yes it looks like they’re doing nothing in one area, and that’s true because the team is focused somewhere else.

[timc]

Obviously, six months starting in September is not a reasonable or realistic timeline, and everyone knows it. I mean, it's not like you can pave the trail during the winter. I've gotten communication from the city that they hope to be done before July. So why did they post six months?

[ijmorlan]

Obviously, six months starting in September is not a reasonable or realistic timeline, and everyone knows it. I mean, it's not like you can pave the trail during the winter. I've gotten communication from the city that they hope to be done before July. So why did they post six months?

I’ve said a couple of times that the original schedule made sense, if one assumes no winter (implicitly treating it as an unexpected bout of bad weather). Of course back here in the real world, they should have done either nothing or full completion on the paths until spring, and just got the bridge installation preparation done before winter. Perhaps certain sections of the paths could have been completed before winter, but any section that couldn’t be done before winter should have been left alone until now. The months-long closures are totally unnecessary.

Of course I also claim that the section of path from Erb/Caroline up to near the bridge should have been done 2 years ago as the LRT construction in that area wrapped up. The duration of the closure along there has been really absurd. Overall, just a lack of attention and caring.

[Canard]

Bridge is being assembled today.