Avalon Place Highway 7/8 Multi-Use Trail Crossing

[Acitta]

Soooooo funny this broke ground a year ago (and was being planned way before that) and it's still not done.

The ramp on Chandler was sitting idle for a couple of months waiting for the concrete pour. I would go by periodically and see not much going on. Maybe the concrete company was tied up with other projects in the region.

[ac3r]

Likely, but it's sad a wealthy industrial nation struggles to build things quickly. This could have been done in 5 months.

[bravado]

Likely, but it's sad a wealthy industrial nation struggles to build things quickly. This could have been done in 5 months.

I have no idea who is going to step up and cure the sickness that all Anglosphere countries seem to have with building literally anything. Our leadership spends all their time complaining and finding money/debt, but no time at all considering if we could do things cheaper and quicker. (We can, it's not like Spain and Italy are very far away, just copy what they do...)

[jeffster]

Likely, but it's sad a wealthy industrial nation struggles to build things quickly. This could have been done in 5 months.

I have no idea who is going to step up and cure the sickness that all Anglosphere countries seem to have with building literally anything. Our leadership spends all their time complaining and finding money/debt, but no time at all considering if we could do things cheaper and quicker. (We can, it's not like Spain and Italy are very far away, just copy what they do...)

Just usually a bunch of red tape and regulations and everything else. This project had a much earlier finish timeline, Covid-19 set it back by a year, and when we got the letter (we live in the Forest Hill area) we were told late autumn 2023 it would be complete. Then we were told late autumn 2024 it would be complete. Now it's 2025 and still nothing.

They probably are now waiting for some nicer weather to complete things, whatever it is, so they can have a "Grand Opening" with all the local government officials, all patting themselves on the back, "Job well done".

[jeffster]

Soooooo funny this broke ground a year ago (and was being planned way before that) and it's still not done.

Way more than a year. I think this started in 2022 and we got a letter stating it would be ready by the end of 2023.

[creative]

Did any of those letters state why construction was delayed?

[ZEBuilder]

Did any of those letters state why construction was delayed?

It was a whole plethora of issues which caused things to become delayed. There was some supply chain issues which were caused by the run on effects of Covid which caused procurement of various products critical to the bridge to be more difficult then intended.

Another issue they ran into was related to the south side substructures (Avalon), the soil conditions they ran into were way worse then expected which required additional ground stabilization and helical piles which wasn't initially expected dragging on the foundation works.

The issues on the Avalon side should have been caught when they did the geotech investigation before they did any foundation design work so it could be a consultant issue. However KWs soils have enough variability that it's entirely possible that the boreholes they did missed a pocket of the problematic soil. 

It's more likely that they hit the problematic soil during drilling but the sample taken for lab testing happened to produce better results than the actual conditions, its just the reality of idealized conditions in a lab. It's also something that's not unheard of and it happens way more than you'd think, generally it's not a substantial issue but in this case it turned out to be a major issue.

[Acitta]

There were people on site when I went by on the bus the other day, so work is ongoing, even if slow.

They probably are now waiting for some nicer weather to complete things, whatever it is, so they can have a "Grand Opening" with all the local government officials, all patting themselves on the back, "Job well done".

They probably are now waiting for some nicer weather to complete things, whatever it is, so they can have a "Grand Opening" with all the local government officials, all patting themselves on the back, "Job well done".

They probably are now waiting for some nicer weather to complete things, whatever it is, so they can have a "Grand Opening" with all the local government officials, all patting themselves on the back, "Job well done".

[jeffster]

Did any of those letters state why construction was delayed?

I can't recall the 2nd later what exactly it said. First letter was stating late 2022 opening. 2nd letter was something about 2023 opening and why the delays (covid, material, etc) and then the last letter was that things are wrapping up and the primary work would be done during the summer and late autumn opening. Primary work refers to a full completion of structure and rehabilitation of Avalon (like curbs, sideways, maybe a repave). Other work would be fencing along the highway and landscaping. As it stands, the structure still isn't 100% complete.

My guess is an opening in early summer.

[Acitta]

Someone posted on Humans Who CycleWR on Facebook that a worker told him that all workers were to be off-site by tomorrow.

[KevinL]

I had seen some excellent progress when I passed by about a week ago; the Strasburg end seemed basically ready to go.

[Acitta]

Not open yet. It was possible to get onto the ramp by going around the fence to the right, but it was muddy and I didn't want to get my walker stuck in the mud. A short time later, as I was waiting at the but stop, I saw a worker at the other end of the bridge.         

[Acitta]

With all the landscaping needed at both ends of the bridge, I think it will be 2 or 3 months before it opens for use.     

[ac3r]

Is it at least passable? At this point, if I lived in that area I'd just start using it. It's ridiculous it has taken years to finish this. They could have finished this in 6 months if they really wanted to. It's a simple pedestrian bridge...

[KevinL]

The entrances are barred with solidly-chained temporary fencing, so no, it can't be used.