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High Level Bridge

yeggator said:
Speaking of which, how long is that running for the season? I got the idea to take a woman on a date aboard the streetcar from Daily Hive, and I’ve gotta do it sometime this fall. What’s my timeline for securing a date off of Tinder? 😅
Click to expand...
Any update on this project? 😊
 
thommyjo said:
I honestly think it might be one of the highest potential projects in our city. Cost will be rough. But a solution will be forced upon us soon if we don’t plan and prepare. And because of its magnitude, bringing on other levels of government should be possible. Tie it to a major rail project to help. Keeping the current bridge as is will be a money sink 10x worse than not demolishing the coliseum when we should have.
Click to expand...

I agree - this project is a major one to watch.

Back in 2022 - 3 options presented:
1. Repair to give bridge another 15 years.
2. Full rehab
3. Build 2nd bridge alongside or replace altogether.

City admin at that time recommended #2 at a projected cost of $135 to $270 million (then).

Now costs are higher. And other factors at play such as provincial rail.

Should city opt for #1 now just to buy time until rail master plan is finalized and seeing if provincial/federal money could be on the table. City in tough position here I think because I think there are a lot of uncertainties.

The active transportation group I'm with is meeting with city project coordinator today so we can highlight maintaining pedestrian/cycling access is critical in all options during any subsequent work.

Any questions people would like to see asked? I will give update but probably won't be much to say at this point.
 
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TAS said:
I agree - this project is a major one to watch.

Back in 2022 - 3 options presented:
1. Repair to give bridge another 15 years.
2. Full rehab
3. Build 2nd bridge alongside or replace altogether.

City admin at that time recommended #2 at a projected cost of $135 to $270 million (then).

Now costs are higher. And other factors at play such as provincial rail.

Should city opt for #1 now just to buy time until rail master plan is finalized and seeing if provincial/federal money could be on the table. City in tough position here I think because I think there are a lot of uncertainties.

The active transportation group I'm with is meeting with city project coordinator today so we can highlight maintaining pedestrian/cycling access is critical in all options during any subsequent work.

Any questions people would like to see asked? I will give update but probably won't be much to say at this point.
Click to expand...
How much would it cost to rehab the bridge if we did the minimum to make it last for 50 more years handling only streetcar and pedestrian/cyclist traffic? (No motor vehicles, move that to a new bridge). I’ve always envisioned a plan where we build a new bridge for cars (bidirectional traffic), intercity/commuter rail and another LRT crossing, while keeping the old one as a cyclist/streetcar link to preserve that piece of history.
 
TAS said:
Any questions people would like to see asked? I will give update but probably won't be much to say at this point.
Click to expand...
Can you please ask if they have any initial thoughts as to what they'll need to do with the upper deck? IE will they have to rip the railway ties out, will they pretty much leave it all as-is, are they considering replacing the ties with a concrete deck and embedded tracks, etc.? Thanks a lot!
 
TAS said:
I agree - this project is a major one to watch.

Back in 2022 - 3 options presented:
1. Repair to give bridge another 15 years.
2. Full rehab
3. Build 2nd bridge alongside or replace altogether.
Click to expand...

Do not, under any circumstances, demolish the old bridge! We have lost enough of our heritage.

Option 3 to build a 2nd bridge, following what @yeggator has envisioned.
 
TAS said:
I agree - this project is a major one to watch.

Back in 2022 - 3 options presented:
1. Repair to give bridge another 15 years.
2. Full rehab
3. Build 2nd bridge alongside or replace altogether.

City admin at that time recommended #2 at a projected cost of $135 to $270 million (then).

Now costs are higher. And other factors at play such as provincial rail.

Should city opt for #1 now just to buy time until rail master plan is finalized and seeing if provincial/federal money could be on the table. City in tough position here I think because I think there are a lot of uncertainties.

The active transportation group I'm with is meeting with city project coordinator today so we can highlight maintaining pedestrian/cycling access is critical in all options during any subsequent work.

Any questions people would like to see asked? I will give update but probably won't be much to say at this point.
Click to expand...
What active transportation group is this? I would love to be a part of one that has meetings like this
 
CplKlinger said:
Can you please ask if they have any initial thoughts as to what they'll need to do with the upper deck? IE will they have to rip the railway ties out, will they pretty much leave it all as-is, are they considering replacing the ties with a concrete deck and embedded tracks, etc.? Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

We were told the upper deck is out of scope for the rehab - it is not being touched.

When council indicated to city admin in 2022 to cost out a full bridge rehab including the option of adding active transportation on the top deck along with a widened east sidewalk (3.7m MUP) on the lower deck, council ultimately voted to remove the upper deck option to save $70million in the 2023-26 budget.

The value of the active transportation expansion on the east side of the bridge is questionable . Usage numbers show more than 80% of cyclists and 65% of pedestrians use the west side, which is linked up with bike network. It could make more sense to not spend the money on expanding the east pathway and look at the top deck again for bike lanes (although not sure Edmonton Radial Railway Society would support that joint use).
 
TAS said:
We were told the upper deck is out of scope for the rehab - it is not being touched.

When council indicated to city admin in 2022 to cost out a full bridge rehab including the option of adding active transportation on the top deck along with a widened east sidewalk (3.7m MUP) on the lower deck, council ultimately voted to remove the upper deck option to save $70million in the 2023-26 budget.

The value of the active transportation expansion on the east side of the bridge is questionable . Usage numbers show more than 80% of cyclists and 65% of pedestrians use the west side, which is linked up with bike network. It could make more sense to not spend the money on expanding the east pathway and look at the top deck again for bike lanes (although not sure Edmonton Radial Railway Society would support that joint use).
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the response, I appreciate that. From what I've heard, some parts of the upper deck, under the railway ties in particular, are in pretty rough shape, so I'm a little surprised to hear that they aren't going to do any work on it. Hopefully that means it's in good enough shape to last another 25 years until the next refurbishment.
 
yeggator said:
How much would it cost to rehab the bridge if we did the minimum to make it last for 50 more years handling only streetcar and pedestrian/cyclist traffic? (No motor vehicles, move that to a new bridge). I’ve always envisioned a plan where we build a new bridge for cars (bidirectional traffic), intercity/commuter rail and another LRT crossing, while keeping the old one as a cyclist/streetcar link to preserve that piece of history.
Click to expand...

So your first question was asked and there would be virtually no difference in cost to do the required bridge rehab even if HLB is converted to active transportation only (and the streetcar). The stress and repairs on the bridge (built in 1913) are result of its structure and design - the same rehab is required whether it is to accommodate vehicle traffic or not. This rehab will get us 25 years until the next repairs will be due (although the next repair won't need to be to the same scope as this particular rehab).

City admin will be providing council with new updated rehab costs (as well as new bridge costs as a second bridge most likely) sometime in 2026. Work could begin in 2027 for rehab. (Back in 2022 it was estimated at about $200 million which included the east side MUP expansion.

Active transportation will remain open during work but there could be periods where only access on one side - and at times only the east side.
 
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