[YYCguys]

I thought I'd start a new thread, since I've never done it before, to see what the general concensus is regarding the temporary 6th Ave closure to accomodate construction of The Bow.

[feepa]

I think theres a few options missing from the poll such as "Who cares"
"yawn"
"a combination of both who cares and yawn"

[YYCguys]

I think theres a few options missing from the poll such as "Who cares"
"yawn"
"a combination of both who cares and yawn"


Those of us who work and/or live in the DT core of Calgary care. It is a major route through the DT core. I guess if you Edmonton folks had a major route closed down in your DT core you wouldn't care?

[Bigtime]

I think theres a few options missing from the poll such as "Who cares"
"yawn"
"a combination of both who cares and yawn"

Personally I like to add a few 'comedy' options to my polls as well. Can I include you in one next time I do a poll up Feepa? :D

Example:

Question "Blah blah blah?"
Option 1: I like it!
Option 2: I hate it!
Option 3: Nuke Feepa from orbit!

I voted for full closure, just get 'er done. Everyone can ride bikes to work come summer time anyways! :tup:

[feepa]

Personally I like to add a few 'comedy' options to my polls as well. Can I include you in one next time I do a poll up Feepa? :D

Example:

Question "Blah blah blah?"
Option 1: I like it!
Option 2: I hate it!
Option 3: Nuke Feepa from orbit!

I voted for full closure, just get 'er done. Everyone can ride bikes to work come summer time anyways! :tup:

You may include me in any poll, as long as its for comedic purposes. :banana:

[Bigtime]

You may include me in any poll, as long as its for comedic purposes. :banana:


Sir we have a deal! :tup:

[MichaelS]

I had a meeting with a few guys from Enmax regarding a minor closure in the DT for some routine maintenance. The subject of Encana and closing 6th Ave came up and they said that with all the media hype about closing 6th, people don't realise that the major headache is going to come when every utility company has to relocate their lines, and therefore lanes of Centre and 1st Street East are going to be dug up for quite a while as well.

[Bigtime]

I had a meeting with a few guys from Enmax regarding a minor closure in the DT for some routine maintenance. The subject of Encana and closing 6th Ave came up and they said that with all the media hype about closing 6th, people don't realise that the major headache is going to come when every utility company has to relocate their lines, and therefore lanes of Centre and 1st Street East are going to be dug up for quite a while as well.

These are all small prices to pay to get a Foster in the ground! MAN UP CALGARY! :whip:

[Habanero]

I think theres a few options missing from the poll such as "Who cares"
"yawn"
"a combination of both who cares and yawn"

Closing 6th Ave would be much worse than closing a road like Jasper ave, at least from a perspective of traffic amount. So you can imagine why people would be concerned.

[Habanero]

I say close it down!

Forget the 1/2 closure, that's a waste of time, you'll still have the headache. I'd rather see the full closure for a year. I mentioned this to my coworkers and they were put off at first, but my boss is looking into the idea of staggerig people's hours if they go for full closure.

[entheosfog]

I say close it down as well. People will adapt and adjust their commuting habits over time.

[YYCguys]

....my boss is looking into the idea of staggerig people's hours if they go for full closure.


That is a super idea! I hope more employers take that initiative and go with it!

[mersar]

my boss is looking into the idea of staggerig people's hours if they go for full closure.

An excellent idea. Now if only people would embrace this idea without being faced with a possible closure. Imagine if 1/2 the companies downtown staggered their hours, it would solve a lot of the current issues with capacity downtown.

[Western Spaghetti]

I voted full closure.

Take the bull by the horns. Plus this may be a catalyst for good things like staggering hours, and cycling etc...

[freeweed]

I say close it down, followed by a plea for better spelling. Took me a second to figure out just what the question was asking. We all have broadband now, we can handle those extra letters!

/old fart mode off

[Surrealplaces]

Close it down. Pull a Kiprusoff and shut out the traffic!

Just curious.....how do we do a combination of both, is that a trick question? :)

[mersar]

He probably meant full closure to start, excavate it fully, then build one side and reopen then do the other.

[Just Build It]

Close all of it off, and get it done. It's seems like a no-brainer, but I guess the general public may think differently than we do.

[Doug]

Combination: limit full closure to off peak hours and summer. No way can downtown function with one of its two westbound roads out of service.

[SpongeG]

a year in the grand scheme of time is but a blip

[MichaelS]

Combination: limit full closure to off peak hours and summer. No way can downtown function with one of its two westbound roads out of service.

When the road is excavated 4 levels down, you can't re-open it during peak hours. I don't think there is a combination option available. It is either dig the entire pit in one shot, or dig half of it at a time.

[YYCguys]

I say close it down, followed by a plea for better spelling. Took me a second to figure out just what the question was asking. We all have broadband now, we can handle those extra letters!


Sorry freeweed, when I tried to type the whole question in the space provided, it wouldn't allow me to finish so I had to shorten it up. I apologize for the confusion (it was my first time posting a new thread and a poll).

SurrealPlaces, a combination would be to close it off fully during the night hours but have it partially open during the daytime.

[Blue_Cypress]

Partial Closures are an engineers' worst nightmare. There is no reasonable way to do such a thing, and it would add significant cost and time to the project.

[Doug]

Could another alternative be to build the 6th Avenue portion last and only allow a short (ex. 4 month) window for full closure?

[Distill3d]

the Centre Street Bridge was closed down for just over a year during 1999 for renovations. the city survived the whole ordeal. so why can we not survive having a closure on 6 avenue? espeically considering the end result

[AUM]

REally though it will all depend on the construction schedule....if weather permits things can move fast but if you get a nasty winter, lets say, it can delay for much longer. So to say for a full year...could potentially mean more than a full year. Partial closure could be longer and may cause more extreme backups versus permanent closure and re-routing traffic to disturb the build process as little as possible so it can move quickly. Those are just my quick thoughts. No matter what there will be delays and if they say 1 year plan for more than that.

[CtrlAltDel]

I voted fully closed. May as well just get it over with.
What about 24 hour construction? What are the construction rules regarding hours, noise etc? 24 hour construction would mean it would go up even faster, and being right in the core, the noise level affecting the residential buildings might be lessened.

[mersar]

I'd imagine in the core, especially that area, 24 hour construction won't be an issue since there isn't really any residential anywhere near. I'm expecting them to request permission to do 24 hour construction if there is a regulation against it for that area when they file for the DP. Thats really the only way that I can see it being done at a rather good pace, we were all expecting it to take about a year to go down and get back to grade anyways, but if they split it into 2 parts it will add time and thats the only real feasable way to keep it on pace. Disadvantage to that is the premium pay for night work that will be in effect, but its probably a tradeoff they will need to take.

[Xelebes]

An excellent idea. Now if only people would embrace this idea without being faced with a possible closure. Imagine if 1/2 the companies downtown staggered their hours, it would solve a lot of the current issues with capacity downtown.


On the other hand, DT becomes less of a 9-5 kinda core.

[AUM]

Only issue with 24 hour is the added costs of labour at after hours.....therefore the costs of construction would definitely go up....and in our current market projects are already suffering to rising costs. I think in the case of Encana that they would want to avoid losing any elements of design. I'm sure they are well above what they had planned or anticipated to spend.
If they do go with a steel strucutre it could potentially go up quick quick compared to a concrete structure just for the simple fact of not having to wait on curing times.

[Daver]

I think theres a few options missing from the poll such as "Who cares"
"yawn"
"a combination of both who cares and yawn"
You might think it's a yawner, because Edmonton has never had to shut down a major downtown artery for a massive office tower contruction project.

Perhaps some day Feepa...some day. :tup:

[vid]

You might think it's a yawner, because Edmonton has never had to shut down a major downtown artery for a massive office tower contruction project.

Perhaps some day Feepa...some day. :tup:

Doubt it! :D

[MichaelS]

I wonder if the Hyatt Hotel would have many objections to 24 hour construction. They are right next to the site.

[mersar]

Good point about the Hyatt. The sound to them would be buffered a bit, at least for the lower floors since the York is in the way between the two. I'd anticipate that if there was 24 hour construction it likely wouldn't be for the entire structure, just to get the parkade under 6th done.

[Western Spaghetti]

I could see 24 hour construction happening, but it may have to be toned down a bit after hours. Maybe they can do jobs that are quieter during the night.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^And if you close it people will plan routes accordingly. Keeping it partially open just creates random havoc.

[Sacamano]

why don't they deck over the excavation site

[Stephen Ave]

Full closure is the only option imo. A partial closure would make things worse, and as has been pouinted out Centre Street was closed for a year.

Keep in mind also that it's not the 6th bridge (over the bow river) that's closing. It's only a section of 6th ave. People can still use 9th ave or 3rd ave to get past the construction area. With centre street and Louise bridge closures, you had to find a completey different way to exit downtown.

[The Chemist]

why don't they deck over the excavation site

Because it'll be a full block wide and VERY deep. Not exactly easy to deck over.

[mersar]

Not to mention its 5 or 6 lanes wide. At 4 levels deep, plus the city's buffer, the pit will likely be a good 60' deep, and as chemist mentioned, probably close to a 2/3 of the block long (as there is a building on one side that isn't Encana owned, so the parkade will start to the west of it).

[Habanero]

That would be kind of cool if they built a temporay deck, unfortunately no too feasible.

[polishavenger]

The portion being shut down is on the east end of the road, which means the bulk of traffic heading west in the evening rush will not be affected at all. The morning traffic could easily divert onto 4th ave.

The city could also get a lot more money with a full closure. It would save encana on construction costs, so it is of more value to them.

[Stephen Ave]

I hope the city votes to go ahead with the closure. I know we're all for it, because we're skyscraper geeks, but the Bow still is a benefit to the city, in terms of property tax revenue, and the cultural space, and a few other things. I hope the city tries to accomodate Encana.

[yads]

Am I missing something? Is 6th ave really used that much where the Bow is slated for construction?

[ExcaliburKid]

You might think it's a yawner, because Edmonton has never had to shut down a major downtown artery for a massive office tower contruction project.

Perhaps some day Feepa...some day. :tup:

Right, because we didnt just deal with having the low-level bridge into downtown shut down for 10 months.....:rolleyes:

[Bigtime]

Am I missing something? Is 6th ave really used that much where the Bow is slated for construction?

Are you serious? If so please lurk more! A whole bunch of traffic from the northeast comes off of 4th Street and sneaks onto the back of 6th Ave. Not to mention all the traffic accessing it from Macleod south in the core.

Bigtime©

[Distill3d]

Am I missing something? Is 6th ave really used that much where the Bow is slated for construction?

it is on a major bus route (#4/#5)...and the main cop shop is right there. during rush hour i would imagine it is one of the busier streets as cars come in downtown.

[Daver]

Right, because we didnt just deal with having the low-level bridge into downtown shut down for 10 months.....:rolleyes:

Bridge work is totally understandable. Calgary's centre street bridge was shut down for reconstruction, whereas a commercial office tower can be debated differently.

Detour for profit, that sort of thing.

[dubiousmike]

Like a band-aid.

Do it all at once. And for shit's sake, do it quickly.

If they' don't do it quickly, that would be a debacle.