Weber Street Reconstruction - College to Union

[Spokes]

I know of no one who likes that bell. It is still an eye sore in what is otherwise nice public space. Art is like that, hit and miss, there is nothing wrong with saying "miss" and moving it to a less central space e.g. somewhere in Waterloo park.

Hate the bell

[panamaniac]

Love the bell.

[Waterlooer]

I use to dislike it but it's really grown on me!

[BuildingScout]

I use to dislike it but it's really grown on me!

There's a name for this: Stockholm syndrome

[DHLawrence]

I don't mind it, but I don't love it either. I might feel more strongly about it if I had to look at it every day. 

[panamaniac]

I guess it's not a surprise, but I was very disappointed to see graffiti on the iron cross span of the new Weber St train bridge. I wonder if it can be easily cleaned without affecting the rusted look that the bridge is supposed to have?

[TMKM94]

I'm so sick of vandals vandalizing everything, can they not keep anything alone? The train bridge near Gage ave. above the iron horse trail was heavily vandalized, the city painted it in mid November but now the walls are pretty much all covered in vandalism again. I know it's not a big deal compared to the Weber street Bridge being vandalized but it's still annoying.

[Drake]

It is supposed to look rusted?

[MidTowner]

I'm so sick of vandals vandalizing everything, can they not keep anything alone? The train bridge near Gage ave. above the iron horse trail was heavily vandalized, the city painted it in mid November but now the walls are pretty much all covered in vandalism again. I know it's not a big deal compared to the Weber street Bridge being vandalized but it's still annoying.

I couldn't agree with you more, and I also think we should stop discriminating between more and less visible graffiti. If it bothers you that the bridge near Gage is vandalised, it surely bothers a lot of other people, and affects yet more subconsciously. It should all be treated seriously- there should be laws for property owners to cover it all up post haste (including public bodies), which would create an incentive to provide better security to prevent it. Police should get serious about preventing it and prosecuting people for it.

I know that not everyone agrees with the "broken windows" theory, but graffiti is at best a blight on our urban infrastructure; and at worst a crime that serves to foster a cycle of more serious crimes and widespread neglect.

[Markster]

From what I understand, the metal is expected to be rusted, that that rust coating in effect protects the interior of the beam from rust. The alloy is designed to rust in a way that doesn't shed the rust, keeping it 'coated' in rust.

[MidTowner]

It's a U.S. Steel product, corten steel. The process of the surface rusting in a predictable, faster-than-normal, way is called 'self-weathering.'

[Drake]

Thanks for that. When I look back at the concept photos I see red beams I didn't realize they were to be rusty, I figured they would be painted. Having read up on corten steel, I can see advantages to that.

On another note, I see the pylons are different in the photo (see 1st post). I don't see the heritage graphics and I see additional pylons at street level with the toppings. It is interesting to see how close the concept and reality is sometimes.

[Canard]

The new streetlights along Weber adjacent the bridge look awesome!!

[Canard]

January 1, 2015:

   

   
Pockets in the wall on the right - for artwork/texture feature installation?

   
Lighting under the tracks

   

   
Room for additional track

[Markster]

And it should be noted that Weber is finally a continuous 4 lanes.