Weber Street Reconstruction - College to Union

[KevinL]

My thoughts: the wires have perhaps been determined to be insufficiently protective from a safety standpoint, at least for people walking into them. It is determined the way to make the system safe is not to replace the wires entirely, but to stop people from walking into them. So this barrier piece is installed. Weird, nonsensical, but does the job...?

[Markster]

Why would it be an after thought? The spot on the posts that the "handrails" are attached to are present on every post, made out of the same treated metal. They had to have been built into the posts initially.

Well, they did just replace all the posts after a year or so of an old-generation post. It's possible that this was added in then.

[Viewfromthe42]

See pages previous to this one, old posts had no holes.

[Canard]

Maybe something is going to get bolted to the new "railing". Notice there is a tapped hole on centre at each end.

[Viewfromthe42]

There are holes along the entire length of every rail, every 12-18 inches or so. I think this was stock (or scrap) material that was repurposed.

[Canard]

But they're painted to match the upright weldments. So they can't just be scrap.

[Viewfromthe42]

You can paint scrap

[Canard]

I agree. And how likely do you think it is that after all the effort to make those beautiful upright weldments, re-fab half of them, that they're then going to just half-ass it by bolting on scrap metal?

[clasher]

It's not any cheaper to re-work scrap iron for a piece like that... they are already rounded on the ends and the holes are there for whatever part of it is coming next. Flat bar is pretty cheap too compared to the labour of painting and drilling the holes, cutting the edges and all that.

[Canard]

Yup. And the rounded ends suggest it's plasma/laser/water jet cut out of a big 4x8 sheet anyway.

But what do I know? I'm just a lowly mechanical designer...

[Markster]

There are holes along the entire length of every rail, every 12-18 inches or so. I think this was stock (or scrap) material that was repurposed.

Sounds like this is the base on which the proper hand rail will be mounted.

[clasher]

Yup. And the rounded ends suggest it's plasma/laser/water jet cut out of a big 4x8 sheet anyway.

But what do I know? I'm just a lowly mechanical designer...

It's a lot easier to buy the flatbar at the width it is now and just round the edges with a jig by hand. I'd have to look at the edges to see if it's rolled or if it's cut, can't tell from the picture.

[BuildingScout]

There are holes along the entire length of every rail, every 12-18 inches or so. I think this was stock (or scrap) material that was repurposed.

Sounds like this is the base on which the proper hand rail will be mounted.

I actually have seen wooden rails mounted on exactly such a metal railing. However, wood makes no sense here, since it is outdoors. I cannot think of another material one would use instead of wood that would resist the elements. Any thoughts?

[Canard]

This thread was driving me nuts so I swung by tonight. It is definitely stock flat bar (sorry - left my tape measure at home, normally have it with me in my backpack...), with rounded ends by hand. It is also not just re-purposed scrap material - it's an engineered solution.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/RegionWaterloo">@RegionWaterloo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/berryonline">@berryonline</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/janemitchell">@janemitchell</a> What are these flat bars for? Big discussion on <a href="https://twitter.com/WRConnected">@WRConnected</a> about them. <a href="https://t.co/1TCHE7N3qc">pic.twitter.com/1TCHE7N3qc</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/752977109996408833">July 12, 2016</a></blockquote>

My bet is that BuildingScout has it right on - there will be a flat wood or "plastic wood" railing screwed on top of it. I swear, though, this whole railing fiasco has all the symptoms of someone's first practical real-world project (and perhaps their last...). Yep, it's cute and fancy to draw it all up. Real life? Not everything gets positioned with millimetre accuracy... I can't imagine the nightmare they're dealing with of nearly customizing every single railing piece when they don't fit properly.

[Canard]

What have I done. Now Twitter is going nuts over this. Nobody has a clue. : smh :