Highway 102/103 - Interchange Upgrade | Completed - Page 4

q12 · #61 Posted **Mar 19, 2020, 12:43 PM**

New Drone video (including the tunnel):
https://twitter.com/NS_TIR/status/1240321108408258562

https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-ne...w-open-2179638

Quote:

The new Dunbrack ramp and tunnel opens at sunrise, March 19. The marks the final construction milestone of the Highway 102/103 interchange -- a modern piece of infrastructure that will improve safety & support the daily commute of thousands of travellers every day.

Traffic control consisting of message boards, cones and barriers will be in place to help guide motorists through the new tunnel and ramp. New signage will be uncovered overnight and the existing Dunbrack ramp (exit 1D) will be closed.

Keith P. · #62 Posted **Mar 19, 2020, 7:34 PM**

I happened to use this today and found it good overall except for one thing.

The tunnel is to take you from the 102 inbound to Dunbrack St. It's purpose was to eliminate the weave/merge that used to be there with traffic coming from the 103 onto the 102. That is a good thing in itself.

But 2 things seem odd. The first is perhaps understandable, but they have done nothing to fix the lethal stop/left turn across traffic once you get to Dunbrack and want to head north towards Fairview. That remains the same as it always was, but I do understand it would be an expensive fix.

The other thing is harder to explain. There is a new widened ramp off the 102 of 2 lanes. The right lane takes you to the 103. The left lane takes you to the Dunbrack tunnel. Right where they diverge, the Dunbrack side has quite a precipitous drop combined with a slight turn that feels quite disconcerting. Once you get into the tunnel it is fine, but I predict problems at that diversion point.

Haliguy · #63 Posted **Mar 19, 2020, 11:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I happened to use this today and found it good overall except for one thing.

The tunnel is to take you from the 102 inbound to Dunbrack St. It's purpose was to eliminate the weave/merge that used to be there with traffic coming from the 103 onto the 102. That is a good thing in itself.

But 2 things seem odd. The first is perhaps understandable, but they have done nothing to fix the lethal stop/left turn across traffic once you get to Dunbrack and want to head north towards Fairview. That remains the same as it always was, but I do understand it would be an expensive fix.

The other thing is harder to explain. There is a new widened ramp off the 102 of 2 lanes. The right lane takes you to the 103. The left lane takes you to the Dunbrack tunnel. Right where they diverge, the Dunbrack side has quite a precipitous drop combined with a slight turn that feels quite disconcerting. Once you get into the tunnel it is fine, but I predict problems at that diversion point.

I agree, went through there today. I had the same observation. I think they are going to have to do some sort of a fix there.

Jstaleness · #64 Posted **Mar 23, 2020, 1:12 PM**

I used it leaving Halifax and coming back in from the 103 yesterday. The biggest improvement was the merger from 103 to 102 as now it's smoother and the 2 left lanes continue properly onto the 102. Much less chances of accidents here now I believe.

Hali87 · #65 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 5:06 PM**

This is interesting - as far as I know this is the only true road/highway tunnel in NS. (Click link for video, I'm not sure how to embed Tweets)

https://twitter.com/NS_TIR/status/12...408258562?s=20

ghYHZ · #66 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 5:52 PM**

Would this be considered a Tunnel? TCH104 at Station Rd in Londonderry/Great Village.

https://goo.gl/maps/AyGfscLrG9hbvHBs7

Dengler Avenue · #67 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 6:00 PM**

C’mon people, these are but underpasses.

OldDartmouthMark · #68 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 6:10 PM**

But it has lights in it! That makes it a tunnel!

Dengler Avenue · #69 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

But it has lights in it! That makes it a tunnel!

We have lots of those in GTA. I guess they’re tunnels after all.

someone123 · #70 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 6:31 PM**

This makes me think I don't really know of a clear distinction between bridges and tunnels. From an engineering perspective I think of a tunnel as a path cleared through dirt or rock where the challenge may be to keep the surrounding material from caving in. A bridge is built out of materials that hold themselves up; the engineering challenge is to create a span that does not collapse. This is all pretty hazy since, say, the roadbed on a bridge is not necessarily self-suppporting. You can make piles of gravel and steel/concrete that are somewhere between the two, like these.

Metro Halifax is where you'd see most of the tunnels in NS because of the traffic but it's a challenging place to build them since it is so rocky and has some steep grades combined with relatively small hills (there are no "mountain passes" where tunneling 500 m saves you from travelling 20 km). It's usually much easier to follow the topography or build overpasses. A tunnel might have been built under the harbour or Northwest Arm but there seems to be little appetite for large infrastructure projects now. Had Halifax had 500,000 people in 1960 it probably would have ended up with one or two major tunnels.

OldDartmouthMark · #71 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 8:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

This makes me think I don't really know of a clear distinction between bridges and tunnels. From an engineering perspective I think of a tunnel as a path cleared through dirt or rock where the challenge may be to keep the surrounding material from caving in.

There seems to be some variance as to the point that an underpass becomes a tunnel.

According to wikipedia:

Quote:

The definition of what constitutes a tunnel can vary widely from source to source. For example, the definition of a road tunnel in the United Kingdom is defined as "a subsurface highway structure enclosed for a length of 150 metres (490 ft) or more."[1] In the United States, the NFPA definition of a tunnel is "An underground structure with a design length greater than 23 m (75 ft) and a diameter greater than 1,800 millimetres (5.9 ft).

Tunnels don't necessarily have to be bored through existing terrain (i.e. the mountain scenario), they can simply be a trench dug into existing with structure built over it and backfilled to allow the upper surface to be used for something else, while the roadway continues beneath it.

A tunnel vs bridge is much more simple to define, whereas a tunnel is generally an underground structure to allow passage (usually) below the surface of existing terrain, a bridge is a structure to allow passage above the surface of existing terrain.

I would tend to call the structure we are discussing a long underpass, but could also see it loosely described as a tunnel, depending upon which definition you adhere to, and whether you consider the roadway above to be existing terrain or not.

OldDartmouthMark · #72 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 8:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

We have lots of those in GTA. I guess they’re tunnels after all.

Sure! Why not?

Hali87 · #73 Posted **Apr 14, 2020, 12:30 AM**

I would think of a tunnel as being bored or cut/cover, a structure that prevents the earth around it from caving in. An underpass I would think of as a path under an elevated roadway.

So in these cases where the upper road is "at ground level" and the lower one passes below it through a hole in the embankment, I would think of that as a tunnel. If there was no embankment and the upper road was instead supported by concrete columns, I would think of the lower one as an underpass. This is just my own logic, not really the technical definition.

I'm also not sure where the exact lines between overpass/viaduct/bridge are. I guess a bridge is specifically over water, an overpass is specifically over another roadway, and a viaduct is over something else?

Citizen_Bane · #74 Posted **Apr 16, 2020, 2:40 PM**

The landscaping around this new interchange looks tidy and considered unlike that nasty gash of ugly that is the Lacewood exit off the 102 closest to Home Depot.

AdAstra · #75 Posted **Nov 16, 2020, 6:37 PM**

Can’t find a dedicated highway 102 thread so I’ll just post this question here:

Does anyone know why there are trees being cut down on either side of the 102, seemingly at different points between Bayers Road and the airport?

Pure speculation here but the width on either side of the highway seems to be big enough to accommodate both an additional inbound and outbound lane.

DigitalNinja · #76 Posted **Nov 16, 2020, 7:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdAstra

Can’t find a dedicated highway 102 thread so I’ll just post this question here:

Does anyone know why there are trees being cut down on either side of the 102, seemingly at different points between Bayers Road and the airport?

Pure speculation here but the width on either side of the highway seems to be big enough to accommodate both an additional inbound and outbound lane.

It's a regular occurrence to increase visibility of wildlife that may come out from the wooded areas.