There were streetcars that went west on King. My grandfather used to take the streetcar to work from Dundurn and King.

Here's a link to a map from 1930. https://skyrisecities.com/news/2016/...-electric-city

https://canada.constructconnect.com/...r-hamilton-lrt

Metrolinx opts for Alliance contract to de-risk Hamilton LRT project

Metrolinx and the City of Hamilton have spent the last half year picking up the pieces of the Hamilton LRT project, resurrected last year by the Ontario government, with most of the project slated to be the same as originally planned but with a major change in the procurement model.

As explained by Metrolinx’s technical project lead Kris Jacobson during a recent webinar, the project owners have decided the utilities-relocation phase of the $3.4-billion project is so fraught with risks that procurement will have to be split into two packages, with the utilities phase procured under the Alliance model.

Alliance, characterized by extensive collaboration from all stakeholders, offers a “no-blame, no-claim environment, where it is our role to just basically get this work done,” said Jacobson.

He said Alliance has elements of progressive design, integrated project design and integrated project delivery.

“From a packaging perspective, we’ve identified that the risk associated with moving those utilities around is just too significant to bundle it as part of the overall scope of the project like we were in the past and using a more traditional P3,” he told members of the Hamilton-Halton Construction Association assembled virtually for day one of the association’s annual Construction Forecast.

“We don’t know what exists underneath the corridor with all of these utilities

The Hamilton LRT will run 14 kilometres from McMaster University in the west to Eastgate Square to the east, with 17 stops. A significant portion of the corridor will be only 20 metres wide, with the double-track guideway located in the centre occupying 10 metres, leaving five metres on either side for two single lanes of traffic.

Given the impossibility of doing future utilities work under the guideway, the project will require a complete relocation of all utilities along the full length of the route under the two narrow roadways.

Jacobson called it more of a utilities project than a transit project.

“Every watermain, every Bell duct structure, every gas main, everything you can think of that exists under the ground, we’re going to have to relocate everything.

“We have what’s called a touch-one, touch-all philosophy on this project, where even though we may only need to move one utility, the spatial constraints that exist on the corridor will require us to move pretty much and renew every single utility onto the road.”

The project, originally budgeted at $1 billion, was cancelled in December 2019 with Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney citing escalating cost estimates. The project was reinstated in May 2021 with the provincial and federal governments pledging billions more.

The costs could rise above the $3.4-billion current estimate if the utilities work — covered by what’s called the Swept Path contract, which includes construction of bridges, roads, sidewalks and other structures besides the utilities — becomes problematic.

“Further complicating that is that this is an old corridor,” said Jacobson. “There are numerous utilities that exist under this road, under this corridor, in various states of repair and various vintages. Some we know about, some we don’t know about it. It’s very congested.

“That’s the nice part about the collaborative model, especially the Alliance contracting model, is we don’t have to waste time debating, you know, what’s an appropriate claim, what’s an appropriate delay.”

The contract will not be fixed price but rather a target-pricing contract, Jacobson explained, with a fully open book and Metrolinx able to audit it to ensure they’re getting value for money.

When a problem arises, “We agree to pay and move the project forward,” said Jacobson.

The Swept Path timetable calls for an RFQ in the spring of 2022, an RFP going out in August 2022, design and cost development from March 2023 into 2024, and construction starting in early 2024.

The second contract, for the Stops, Rail and Systems phases along with operations and maintenance, will be procured through a traditional P3 DBFOM model. The RFQ would go out in early 2023, the RFP period would start in May 2023, design work would ensue through 2024 and construction is targeted for a late 2024 start.

“Since we de-risked the project by moving all the utilities out of the way, by creating a sanitized corridor down the middle of the road, it should be relatively straightforward for a second contractor to come in and actually build the rail,” said Jacobson.

Building demolitions have started and other enabling works will be launched this year.

Other civil projects to be undertaken include construction of an operations, maintenance and storage facility; replacement of the existing Longwood Road Bridge; a new Highway 403 LRT flyover bridge; a new CP overpass bridge; and reestablishment of 62 traffic signals and thousands of streetlights

The highlights are my addition, to highlight the timelines as this is the first time in a while we've gotten a more clear update on when things will be happening.

good news. Really shows how much of the costs are going to renewing city infrastructure. The whole project is such an insane good deal for the City. I just wish it could start earlier!

hmm construction starting in 2024 now?

Looks like early works will start in 2022 to 2023, with major relocation work starting 2024. Actual rail infrastructure will start late 2024.

If the project hadn't been cancelled, it would have likely started this year instead, or late 2022. The cancellation basically pushed it back another 2 years. I estimate 4 to 5 years of construction of the project with maybe a 1 or 2 year delay, which means we'll likely be able to ride the Hamilton LRT in 2030-2032. Exciting!

An article of sorts describing what a "swept path". I dunno, perhaps some may find it worthy of inclusion to this thread. I just wanted to know what the heck it was.

http://www.sweptpath.com/light-rail.html

I also wonder whether we'll see it open in stages. E.g., could it begin running from downtown to Mac first?

There will probably be sections where the utility relocation/replacement is a lot more involved, particularly in the oldest sections of the city (downtown to Ottawa St. for example). Though I imagine some of the "surprises" were found during the last rebuilds of King, Main, Queenston... I can't remember when those were done but probably at least not since the 1990s?

That's actually interesting. I'm going to see if there's more infor about this. I assumed Swept Path meant that all the utility work was done, is "swept" and then all that was needed was the rail infrastructure. Apparently it's something totally different. The cool thing about LRT is that even though the turning radiuses are large, they're much smaller compared to a bus as long as the train since the back wheels of a vehicle don't follow the front wheels but follow a shorter path. LRT because it is on rail the back can follow the front identically. Assuming the bogeys have sufficient turning capabilities, the LRT can be given quite short turning radii.

So, a project that started being official when I was 18 is looking at completion when I’m pushing 40… :runaway:

I would imagine the first four priority projects for the LRT construction, would be the Longwood Bridge, the King St underpass by South Bend and the new LRT bridge over 403 and the new Longwood operations, maintenance and storage facility.

Early works will be things like simple utility relocates, site prep for the maitenence yard like grub clearing, grading, etc., building demolitions along the corridor, and other small contract items.

The main contract will be the alliance model they discussed which will be the one that starts in 2024 and completely rips up the street to rebuild it.

I imagine the Longwood Bridge, rail grade separation, bridge over the 403, etc. will actually come in the primary contract issued in 2024. Those things will start that year and be done relatively quickly.

Looking at the construction start times, I would say an in operation date of 2028 or 2029 is probably realistic.

:)
Yeah, I thought so as well. Minimum distance for maximum utilization for the allotted 20m.

The Longwood bridge will be interesting to watch. I imagine they'll build a new structure beside the old one -- if it is still strong enough it could serve as a pedestrian/cycling corridor, but I understand it needs major work and I would think MTO will want the piers (which are very cracked on the surface) removed to take away one of the limits re: future options for 403 widening.

I don't recall seeing any conceptual plans/options for that.

Yes, the Longwood bridge is actually one of the larger elements of the project so I'm surprised we haven't seen more information on it. The lack of new information on the project in general is rather surprising - the only information we do have is basically all from before Metrolinx took control of the project from the City.

From what I recall the new bridge will go where the current one is though, so we will likely see the bridge close for several years while it is rebuilt.

From what I recall the new one will be slightly wider to provide for 4 vehicle lanes as well as dedicated sidewalks and a cycling path, at least. It'll be interesting to see how the support piers are designed as it's a bit taller than a typical freeway overpass, and how much larger the individual spans will be compared to today. There are 5 piers right now - will it be reduced to 4, 3, 2?

Damn boyeee! This is a really diverse project of no small feat at all! Probably the single most comprehensive construction project in this city's history, isn't it great we get the privilege of bearing witness?
Great article and Great Times! Please, pour some cold water on me, would you? heh

Southern Highways Program 2017-2021 pdf.

Just a pdf with details on all bridge work and looks like one place you could look into the future with updated versions to keep up to speed on what is what. If you search Hamilton on the document, then it will give the bridges and where they're at in Hamilton. Basically from looking into some other stuff, a bridge replacement over a highway can take anywhere from 2 to 3 years all the way up to 10 years. So, several years, which I thought a bit much is actually what it calls for involving this type of bridge replacement.

Oh, and because I was in hospital over the holidays and up till recent, Happy New Year Hamilton Thread! We all share a loved passion for this city and its future for most best, and love looking at pictures of new construction buildings, and the like. All the very best guys moving forward this year!


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...cGW2RQNkn53aPR

Probably too much to hope for, but something like a version of the new Burgoyne Bridge in St. Catharines would be nice. But that cost $100M when all was said and done, and several years ago. It's a lot longer than Longwood would need to be, but the latter would have to be much wider.

https://www.canambridges.com/wp-cont...2-1024x768.jpg

https://www.canambridges.com/wp-cont...6-1024x683.jpg

Photo source

Hamilton’s ‘shovel-ready’ LRT still two years away from major construction
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Jan 27 2022)

Major construction on Hamilton’s “shovel-ready” LRT is still two years away, according to a project timeline circulated by provincial transit agency Metrolinx.

The city’s off-again, on-again LRT project was infamously cancelled over budget woes in 2019 but resurrected last May thanks to a $3.4-billion funding partnership between the province and federal government.

At the time, bureaucrats and politicians at all government levels stressed the urgency of getting to work quickly on the project, citing post-pandemic job creation and economic development. “Given our prior work, this is very much the definition of a shovel-ready project,” Infrastructure Ontario president Michael Lindsay said last May.

Don’t expect to see huge swaths of the Main-King LRT corridor dug up any time soon, however.

An example project schedule presented to a construction industry group last week shows no major construction starting before 2024. Most of this year and 2023 appear devoted to behind-the-scenes work on design and project tendering — although isolated “enabling works” like relocating utility lines could begin as early as this fall.

Notably, the schedule shows Metrolinx splitting the 14-kilometre construction project into two main contracts: one that includes underground relocation of sewers, pipes and utilities and another for actual rail infrastructure, stations and operations.

Carving up the complex project into smaller contracts could help Metrolinx “minimize risk and stay on budget,” said Kris Jacobson, a former city LRT project head who now works for Metrolinx.

That would be a departure from the one-contractor-does-all bidding process that bogged down Hamilton’s first failed LRT procurement. The Spectator previously reported one bidder on the original LRT bailed out even before the Progressive Conservative government killed the project.

But Jacobson also cautioned during an interview Wednesday the circulated schedule is “very tentative” — as are still-unconfirmed proposals to split up construction. Still, he said it is “fair” to assume no major construction will start before 2024.

Read it in full here

In the meantime it would be nice to see more private development along this corridor so that the area doesn't sit stagnant until 2024

Would be curious to know if there have been any obvious land assembly undertakings near or at the LRT station stops. Or perhaps we will see some MZOs along the path to accelerate the development timelines and density.