Saskatoon Construction

[roccerfeller]

Nice, those are some exciting interchange pics.

I'm not from nor familiar w Saskatoon, are the yellow roads brand new or realignments?

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Interesting article in Star Phoenix today about the 'underground' rooms/tunnels in Saskatoon. The city is looking at doing an assessment and is looking to cost share the assessment part with building owners, but any structural work needed 'underground' would be the responsibility of building owner.

I think the city should take on the full cost of this AND look to preserving these 'glass lit' historical features of downtown. Other cities who have these glass block sidewalks are looking at ways to preserve and enhancement them (i.e. lit at night). What a cool feature that could be for Saskatoon with some interpretive signs erected downtown with the background story on these. Maybe we could re-use the LED lights from the Traffic Bridge to light these glass tiles/blocks from underneath!?

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Safety+worry+down+below/4462032/story.html

I would love to see these bricks glowing in the evening. Currently they are in rough shape and would require some major work but would be worth it in my opinion.

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

Nice, those are some exciting interchange pics.

I'm not from nor familiar w Saskatoon, are the yellow roads brand new or realignments?

This image should give you a better idea of the complete alignment.
A lot of the roadway leading up to the bridge in both directions will be new and the rest will be major realignments.
Check out the website below the photo for more images and bridge construction web cam.


Source and larger images available here - City of Saskatoon

[roccerfeller]

@ Jerry


Thanks man! All I have to say is

Holy Eff!!!

Thats insane!! Thats a huge project! Looking awesome. This is going to be awesome, good to see. (You guys already have more interchanges than Winnipeg does )

I noticed there is going to b 7km of freeway/expressway - while nothing to scoff at, why not make it a proper freeway all around? Again im not familiar with the city - perhaps it might not be possible.

Also, I really like the interchanges...they look like "new age" designs...very accessible, modern.

[roccerfeller]

That pedestrian bridge is really scary though.

[dsim249]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

@ Jerry


Thanks man! All I have to say is

Holy Eff!!!

Thats insane!! Thats a huge project! Looking awesome. This is going to be awesome, good to see. (You guys already have more interchanges than Winnipeg does )

This biggest in the history of Saskatoon, to be exact. It will cost over a quarter of a billion dollars to complete. (288 mil. But a quarter of a billion sounds so much more BA. )

Regarding the pedestrian bridge, we already have a similar one under the Circle Drive Bridge. It's pretty cool, but the difference is, it's more open air. The Circle Drive South pedestrian bridge does appear to have a 'tunnel of doom' effect going on from the renderings. Hopefully that's not the case while you're on it.


drm310

[kgc087]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

@ Jerry


Thanks man! All I have to say is

Holy Eff!!!

Thats insane!! Thats a huge project! Looking awesome. This is going to be awesome, good to see. (You guys already have more interchanges than Winnipeg does )

I noticed there is going to b 7km of freeway/expressway - while nothing to scoff at, why not make it a proper freeway all around? Again im not familiar with the city - perhaps it might not be possible.

Also, I really like the interchanges...they look like "new age" designs...very accessible, modern.

It's impossible for the north part of Circle drive to be made freeway. It's now integrated into urban fabric with store access points along the entire stretch.

My ideal vision for this would be to make this a dual lane drive with a tree lined blvd and tree lined sidewalks, try to make it more pedestrian friendly. Then construct a tunnel underneath for semis and through traffic.

[Morogolus]

Wow you learn something new everyday, I had no idea that there were little storage areas underneath the sidewalk and the mesh is actually little windows.

It looks like everyone has emptied out of Career Campus on 20th by the Galaxy Theater and now that building is for lease. I would be perfectly ok with them demolishing that eyesore to the ground.

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by Jerry

I would love to see these bricks glowing in the evening. Currently they are in rough shape and would require some major work but would be worth it in my opinion.

Unfortunately, it's the stuff that you can't see that really needs work. I did some preliminary budgeting for remediation work of the structure beneath the sidewalks in a couple of the buildings along 21st. It's pretty ugly down there.

Based on what I've seen, it's typically cast-in-place concrete columns and beams supporting the sidewalk structure. The majority of those elements are in very poor condition - significantly deteriorated, with rusted out rebar exposed in many locations. The reconstruction of these areas has been cost prohibative for most building owners. The responsible owners have put in shoring to support the remains of the beams. Even the cost of filling in the "tunnels" is quite steep, as there is typically not an easy way to get the material into place, short of removing the exisitng sidewalks, filling it with engineered fill and replacing the sidewalks as a slab on grade. This is certainly not what is desired for these interesting features, but may well be the outcome if the City doesn't make a significant contribution to the cost of the required remedial work.

[gowest]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Interesting article in Star Phoenix today about the 'underground' rooms/tunnels in Saskatoon. The city is looking at doing an assessment and is looking to cost share the assessment part with building owners, but any structural work needed 'underground' would be the responsibility of building owner.

I think the city should take on the full cost of this AND look to preserving these 'glass lit' historical features of downtown. Other cities who have these glass block sidewalks are looking at ways to preserve and enhancement them (i.e. lit at night). What a cool feature that could be for Saskatoon with some interpretive signs erected downtown with the background story on these. Maybe we could re-use the LED lights from the Traffic Bridge to light these glass tiles/blocks from underneath!?

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Safety+worry+down+below/4462032/story.html

The idea of the bridge lights is the first idea I've heard that makes sense of the old bridge. Great idea.

[drto]

My ideal vision for this would be to make this a dual lane drive with a tree lined blvd and tree lined sidewalks, try to make it more pedestrian friendly. Then construct a tunnel underneath for semis and through traffic.

I've always thought that since it was an irreversible screw-up to put retail/commercial/traffic lights/intersections along 42nd Street, aka Circle Drive, they should contruct an elevated by-pass over top of the ground level roadway, similar to Nimitz Hwy in Honolulu. I know the winter weather would play a huge role in deteriorating that length of the concrete structure that would inevitably carry huge loads and this, in turn would make it financially unfeasible, but you can always dream, can't you!

[nook]

I'd actually like to see more of those sidewalk lights instead of getting rid of them. They're pretty unique.

I remember walking over them as a kid and being amazed at the "Weird sidewalk."

[youngregina]

In regards to where Circle Dr. meet Idylwild, will there be no flyover so that traffic heading east can turn north onto Idylwild?

[dsim249]

Originally Posted by youngregina

In regards to where Circle Dr. meet Idylwild, will there be no flyover so that traffic heading east can turn north onto Idylwild?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean... flyover?

Is this the intersection you're referring to? (It's Idylwyld btw, hah)

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_...06.669741&spn=0.001948,0.005509&t=h&z=18

[youngregina]

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_...06.669741&spn=0.001948,0.005509&t=h&z=18

This is the intersection I'm talking about.

[Red914]

Originally Posted by dsim249

I'm not sure I understand what you mean... flyover?

Is this the intersection you're referring to? (It's Idylwyld btw, hah)

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_...06.669741&spn=0.001948,0.005509&t=h&z=18

I'm pretty sure youngregina is referring to Idylwyld freeway (South) where the new interchange will be. I was wondering the same thing. If you are coming across the new bridge heading east and want to go downtown, you have to exit somewhere (maybe Lorne) and then get back to the Idylwyld freeway, unless I'm missing something.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[JCA]

Originally Posted by youngregina

In regards to where Circle Dr. meet Idylwild, will there be no flyover so that traffic heading east can turn north onto Idylwild?

There's no need to build it because you can exit onto Lorne Ave. and go north back onto the freeway.

[dsim249]

Ohh, gotcha. I guess I was confused because I never refer to it as Idylwyld until you cross the Sid Buckwold bridge. I should have caught on given the context of the past few pages.

Anyway, good question.

Welcome to the forum Red914.

[shmakim]

I've always thought that since it was an irreversible screw-up to put retail/commercial/traffic lights/intersections along 42nd Street, aka Circle Drive, they should contruct an elevated by-pass over top of the ground level roadway, similar to Nimitz Hwy in Honolulu. I know the winter weather would play a huge role in deteriorating that length of the concrete structure that would inevitably carry huge loads and this, in turn would make it financially unfeasible, but you can always dream, can't you!

Anybody think it's possible that design techniques used to incorporate flexibility into buildings and bridges to make them earthquake resistant could be used to make Saskatchewan structures resistant to spring heave? Same movement, but just waaaaay slower? Shreded rubber in the roads, and earthquake-proof designs for raised roadways allow me to dream of a pleasurable driving experience around Saskatoon.

My family and I returned from 2 weeks in Orlando in February, where the roads were ridiculously smooth and flat. There's just no way we can duplicate something like that here when the ground heaves so much every year?

[ninipanini]

Originally Posted by shmakim

Anybody think it's possible that design techniques used to incorporate flexibility into buildings and bridges to make them earthquake resistant could be used to make Saskatchewan structures resistant to spring heave? Same movement, but just waaaaay slower? Shreded rubber in the roads, and earthquake-proof designs for raised roadways allow me to dream of a pleasurable driving experience around Saskatoon.
year?

That's a really interesting question! I don't know if anyone out there can answer this, but I would guess that the force exerted by water freezing/expanding in a confined space would probably be greater than an earthquake - although like you said over a much longer time frame. Shredded rubber in the road sounds like a reasonable idea, better roads and a good option for reusing old tires - anyone out there know if they're already doing this? Tires in roads sounds familiar.