Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon
I noted it on PriceTags, and I'll note it here. The centre island bus / bike path connection makes no sense.
1) The busses would have to unload on the wrong side unless there is a crossover which would be huge and expensive. Bus doors are always on the passenger side unless you custom order busses.
2) Putting the elevators and stairs in the middle of the bridge would also be a poor choice. This would reduce the cross section of the bridge, add in a whole bunch of complicated expansion joints, greatly hinder construction, require complex engineering, and likely reduce the number of lanes to 2 each-way.
3) The pedestrian connection would require 1-2 crosswalk crossings for every single user, as opposed to none for some movements if it was on a single side.
4) Views from the bridge would always be through several lanes of traffic. Picking a side would provide better views, and potentially allow cantilevering a wider section onto the bridge like that which occurred on Second Narrows.
Here is the PDF of the Report.
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I can see where you're coming from, but I think some of your concerns are a little bit overblown.
1) In the render you can see a little island where pedestrians can get off and walk to the pedestrian walkway/elevator; no custom busses necessary.
2) Its possible that it could be complicated to put the bridge in, but I'm assuming they've thought of that, and you can't really make those claims until an engineering study has been done. Also I don't know why you think the pedestrian walkway would reduce traffic to two lanes each way, it states in the article it would be the middle two lanes used for the pedestrian walkway. I don't think it would need four lanes for a lane of bikes each way and some bushes (and even if it did for some reason wouldn't it use the same if it was on one side?).
3) I don't think this is a big deal, there are lots of cross walks for bridges like the Burrard Street bridge and it's not a huge issue.
4) I agree that views could be better on one side, but especially if the middle part is elevated I think you could still get good views, just not directly below. Additionally, if it was one side you would only be able to see that side, whereas in the middle you could have views in both directions. Cantilevering is a good idea, but I'm not sure about how that would work if it was just one side.
With regards to busses, if it was on one side of the road there would only be bus access from one direction, or pedestrians would have to cross many lanes of traffic to get to the elevator, which wouldn't really work on a busy fast moving bridge. Also, adding that much weight to one side of the bridge could cause some structural imbalances that would could be more costly and complicated than having to move some beams to fit the elevator (and if you wanted to put the elevator inside the bridge on one side it would still need structural adjustments).