Millennium Line - Evergreen Extension | Completed

[Olden Retreiver]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Oh my friend is a conspiracy nut (on many things). They could have taken samples every two feet for the entire length of the tunnel and he'd still be saying the same thing. To him "risk" means someone failed somewhere.

Cheers.

There are some on this board who no doubt consider me a conspiracist on the basis of my "rational hypothesis" statement. Frankly, I find the lack of comment and discussion about the tunnel issues to be very telling...

[dpogue]

As of this morning, they've started bolting down the LIM reaction rail around Lougheed station.

I'm a bit curious to see how they deal with the need to install the induction loop cables and define track sections, but that's probably getting a bit too far ahead of them right now

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by queetz@home

Hence I will keep on bringing up the Burquitlam Station should be opening early, because there is no technical reason why it shouldn't. All the excuses of it not opening early has more to do with some philosophical idealism that its all or none.

TransLink can't open Burquitlam Station because they don't 'own' it yet. During construction it's the province's station. Technical and philosophical reasons have nothing to do with it.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Sheba

TransLink can't open Burquitlam Station because they don't 'own' it yet. During construction it's the province's station. Technical and philosophical reasons have nothing to do with it.

There's nothing to stop the ownership from being transferred early if it were deemed beneficial.

[Tfreder]

Why on earth would they open up a single station before the rest of the line?? I don't get the need for urgency in this situation. It just makes no sense to me...

[officedweller]

If there were an election a few months afterwards, then it might make sense. I think that's why the NDP's M-Line opened Sapperton and Broad before the ret of the line.

[GeeCee]

That situation was a little different in that the M-Line was way behind schedule. They kind of needed to open parts of it 'early' in order to save face.

[Olden Retreiver]

The debate/argument here on whether Burquitlam Station should open "early" has yet to take into consideration that the tunnel is 8 months (so far as we can estimate with limited information) behind schedule.

If your looking at calendars for future years, the next Provincial election is scheduled for May 9, 2017.

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by Olden Retreiver

The debate/argument here on whether Burquitlam Station should open "early" has yet to take into consideration that the tunnel is 8 months (so far as we can estimate with limited information) behind schedule.

If your looking at calendars for future years, the next Provincial election is scheduled for May 9, 2017.

I agree they are likely behind schedule but have no idea how much of the tunnel is to be complete right now. Is 8 months your guesstimate? Is there a published schedule as to completion targets for Alice?

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by SOSS

I agree they are likely behind schedule but have no idea how much of the tunnel is to be complete right now.

There's a January pic from the Evergreen site here here

I'd never really thought about it, but I assumed they'd be tunnelling from the other end. That pic makes Queetz's obsession even more detached from reality.

[Violator]

Originally Posted by Meraki

Nah, I think the whole line is going to be bland. Cheap design saves money.

Since certain groups complained about paying architects to design the "gold plated" Millennium Line stations we've decided that Austere is the new guiding principle for design.

Probably the only reason they're just not solely concrete is the BC Liberals' "Wood First" mandate.

I'm glad they have a wood first plan makes the stations look a lot nicer to look at versus the boring look that makes it look like a skate park with all of the graffiti and stains concrete loves to give off.

Maybe one day sky train will have a grand central station type of hub.

[Olden Retreiver]

Originally Posted by SOSS

I agree they are likely behind schedule but have no idea how much of the tunnel is to be complete right now. Is 8 months your guesstimate? Is there a published schedule as to completion targets for Alice?

Pure guesstimate. The tunnel started last March, was supposed to take roughly a year, and is about one-third done.

Looking forward, if they resume tunnelling soon and make their original scheduled rate of progress, it will finish something like 8 months late.

A cynic or pessimist might say it has taken a year to tunnel one third, therefore it will take two more years to complete.

I just wish EGRT would come out with a plain statement that the tunnel is delayed but there enough flexibility in the overall schedule to have the line ready by Summer 2016 (if this is actually true, of course.)

[GeeCee]

Apparently 'main tunnel boring activity' didn't begin until June (http://evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/documents...008_Inside_the_Tunnel_Boring_Machine.pdf) but they started prep activity in March.

[SOSS]

Its strange to me. When they get going, they get going. I recall seeing 15+ truck and pups lined up to take away debris in a single day. But then nothing for weeks.

[Olden Retreiver]

"The tunnel was launched in early March near Barnet Highway and View Street in Port Moody and Alice is expected to progress at an average rate of eight metres a day, taking just under a year to reach the south tunnel portal, located just south of Kemsley Avenue on the west side of Clarke Road in Burquitlam."

- See more at: http://tranbc.ca/2014/03/26/the-evergreen-line-tunnel-alice-will-make-it-a-boring-job/


8 metres a day for 250 days (the ordinary number of working days in a year) is 2000 metres. I believe the "main tunnelling operation" is the phase after the TBM has cut far enough in that all it's trailing auxiliary machinery is linked up behind the cutter.

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by Olden Retreiver

"The tunnel was launched in early March near Barnet Highway and View Street in Port Moody and Alice is expected to progress at an average rate of eight metres a day, taking just under a year to reach the south tunnel portal, located just south of Kemsley Avenue on the west side of Clarke Road in Burquitlam."

- See more at: http://tranbc.ca/2014/03/26/the-evergreen-line-tunnel-alice-will-make-it-a-boring-job/


8 metres a day for 250 days (the ordinary number of working days in a year) is 2000 metres. I believe the "main tunnelling operation" is the phase after the TBM has cut far enough in that all it's trailing auxiliary machinery is linked up behind the cutter.

Great article. Needs some major updates... "Bored tunnel construction means there is no disruption to residents, businesses and the traffic on the surface above."

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Violator

I'm glad they have a wood first plan makes the stations look a lot nicer to look at versus the boring look that makes it look like a skate park with all of the graffiti and stains concrete loves to give off.

Maybe one day sky train will have a grand central station type of hub.

... Or we can just continue using Waterfront Station, and keep improving its connectivity.

[TransitJack]

An early opening of Burquitlam is unlikely. Due to the planned service changes to integrate EG line permanently (line segregation), it wouldn't make a lot of sense to change the network alignment partially for that, only to then have to re-educated folks later for full line completion.

Would it be VCC-Burquiltam Mline, and Expo split as planned? Or just a shuttle train using the 3rd platform at LTS? It really does't make a whole lot of benefits and offers a lot of confusion.

Also, politicians like big splashy grand openings, not "our project is partially complete, yeah!"

Now add in all the construction related activities that need to occur at the South Portal...

[officedweller]

Webcam pic from today - gantry a bit further along walking across steel box girder:


http://wcs.pbaeng.com/projects/R1_Transit

Feb 6th Update:

Update for Cecile Drive

EGRT Construction is working to reopen the north lane of Cecile Drive as soon as possible. We had anticipated that the north lane would be open by the end of this week (February 6). However, additional geotechnical assessment on Cecile Drive is required to confirm the north lane is safe to reopen.

We recognize the inconvenience that the Cecile Drive road closure has on residents and are working to open one lane of the road as soon as possible. We will update the public with a Construction and Traffic Bulletin regarding reopening the north lane. In addition, updates will be available on www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca.

To remind drivers to adhere to speed limits, traffic control personnel and speed reader boards will be placed on Tuxedo Drive and Highview Place.

The tunnel boring machine (TBM) maintenance below Cecile Drive will continue for approximately two more weeks. Once the maintenance is complete, the TBM will resume boring and final road restoration of Cecile Drive will follow.

Thank you again for your continued patience while we complete this work. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact the Evergreen Line Project at 604-927-2080, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/docum...cile%20Drive%20Update%20February%206.pdf
http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/tunnel.htm

Of interest, this is from the geotech report based on the boreholes prior to construction (page 35 of 2512).
The tunnel is shown by the light gray lines (essentially a long diagonal).
Cecile Drive is at BH00-16 (the spot on the tunnel allignment where the purple and beige meet)


http://docs.openinfo.gov.bc.ca/D27323814A_Response_Package_TRA-2014-00090.PDF
http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/tunnel.htm

[queetz@home]

Originally Posted by TransitJack

An early opening of Burquitlam is unlikely. Due to the planned service changes to integrate EG line permanently (line segregation), it wouldn't make a lot of sense to change the network alignment partially for that, only to then have to re-educated folks later for full line completion.

Would it be VCC-Burquiltam Mline, and Expo split as planned? Or just a shuttle train using the 3rd platform at LTS? It really does't make a whole lot of benefits and offers a lot of confusion.

Also, politicians like big splashy grand openings, not "our project is partially complete, yeah!"

There is nothing to re-educate. The public is not that stupid to know that the line would be partially open if needed. Plus its been said quite a few times that opening Burquitlam early may even help with testing the new, segregated line, ironing out the kinks so when its fully open, there would be less bugs to deal with when its fully operational.

Besides, its not unusual for politicians to have big splashy grand openings of one station. They did it for VCC / Clark when it finally opened after years of delay.

Who knows how long the tunneling would be delayed. But say its delayed for more than a year, should Burquitlam still remain closed when it can be used sooner?