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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 27, 2008, 7:09 PM
Mininari Mininari is offline
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An Idea for the existing Pitt river Bridges: Renovation instead of Removal

Why are we paying to remove the Pitt River Bridges?
How much is this going to cost?

is anyone wondering why the Province has not considered options for the existing Pitt River Bridges other than outright removal?

Why not retain ONE of the structures for pedestrians, cycling and even Equestrian use?

I realize that the spans are old, and that ongoing maintenance is required on any strucutre, but on the other hand, these structures are THERE, and as it stands, the Province is going to spend a bunch of money to take them down.

So why not invest some of this money into retrofitting one of the spans?

I propose that we remove the older bridge and swing operations equipment, and the swing-span of the newer bridge. In the space of the swing span, we can build an arched span that would go high enough to permit marine traffic to pass unhindered. The span would not need to support the weigh of vehicles, so it shouldn't cost THAT much to build.

Does anyone think that this idea is at all feasible? I mean it seems a little ridiculous that in a region STARVED for bridge capacity, we're TAKING DOWN structures that may still have some utility in them.

Thoughts?
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2008, 3:48 AM
cornholio cornholio is offline
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The bridges are too low and require to be opened and closed not to mention that their old and require probably crap loads of maintanace. Once your building a new span like they are now then there is no point in keeping the old and expensive to maintain spans, if you think we need more capacity in that area then they can just increase the size of the new bridge.
By the way right now its a really pain when those bridges get opened cutting off the CP inter modal yard in Putt Meadows from the rest of Vancouver, though that usually happens in the evenings.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2008, 4:59 AM
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SpongeG SpongeG is offline
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once i was going east into maple ridge and the bridge was opened on the west side and people could not get out of maple ridge - the traffic was at a dead stand still into pitt meadows - people were walking around all mad as they couldn't do anything

the bridge got stuck - so eventually to get traffic moving they opened the counterflow until they could get the bridge unstuck

the idea would be nice but it is old and probably not worth saving - the new bridge is being made with LRT bicycles etc in mind at least

I don't think that area ever really has any pedestrian action anyway

I was thinking they should reopen the upper level of the train bridge in new west to pedestrians and cyclists rather than them having to go over the scarey patullo - before the patullo cars used to share the train bridge

you can see in this old pic the old upper level that was used by cars

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  #4  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2008, 5:43 AM
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mattropolis mattropolis is offline
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The New West rail bridge doesn't have the structural capacity to add any extra weight even for a pedestrian crossing. Also how do you stop people from falling off it when it swings open?

That bridge is over 100 years old and needs to be replaced with a rail tunnel.

I wonder if they will twin the Patullo bridge or knock it down and replace it with a wider crossing?
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  #5  
Old Posted Jan 28, 2008, 4:07 PM
Mininari Mininari is offline
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You didn't read my post carefully enough -- my idea involved removing the older of the two existing spans completely, and removing all swing operations and the swing span section from the newer of the two, and then replacing the resulting "gap" in the bridge with an arched section.

You do make valid points about maintenance though. That probably kills this idea right there -- economics.

I'd prefer to just have and see one new modern span over the Pitt River (i.e. what is being built), but my reasoning is why pay to remove BOTH bridges when the newer of the two could probably continue to serve the area in a different, role.

The bridge will never swing again either way!



Quote:
Originally Posted by cornholio View Post
The bridges are too low and require to be opened and closed not to mention that their old and require probably crap loads of maintanace. Once your building a new span like they are now then there is no point in keeping the old and expensive to maintain spans, if you think we need more capacity in that area then they can just increase the size of the new bridge.
By the way right now its a really pain when those bridges get opened cutting off the CP inter modal yard in Putt Meadows from the rest of Vancouver, though that usually happens in the evenings.
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