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Roads: Six Points Interchange Reconfiguration (City of Toronto, UC)

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Hopkins123 said:
Well, this new road configuration is already a failure in my book. It's taking over 20 minutes just for buses to exit Islington Station and clear the new Bloor-Dundas intersection. Holy hell!
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I'm also going to predict that from a traffic standpoint it will be a nightmare navigating Kipling and Dundas. I would be really interested to see if a traffic study was done. Does anyone here have any info on traffic simulations before and after. It was clear this project was completed to open up space for more condo developments and to establish a more "city" identity for Etobicoke.

Also, why weren't the bridge girders saved, they looked almost brand new with very little deterioration. Maybe they could have moved the bridge bypass further north on bloor but not sure if the city owns the lands adjacent to bloor to construct a ramp to Kipling?
 
Feels like (admittedly with no evidence) disruptions like this are more jarring for drivers now because they are running on “GPS autopilot” rather than being fully engaged with signs.
 
Oldmanyells said:
Also, why weren't the bridge girders saved, they looked almost brand new with very little deterioration. Maybe they could have moved the bridge bypass further north on bloor but not sure if the city owns the lands adjacent to bloor to construct a ramp to Kipling?
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Because it would take an order or magnitude (if not more) of time to carefully demolish the bridge by taking care not to damage the girders. As it is, they just let the Hoe Rams go wild and pulverize the bridge. The rubble does get sorted and the spaghetti of rebar and the girders do get sent to recycling.
To preserve the girders, the concrete deck needs to be removed by saw cutting (careful not to nick the girder). Remember the girder has shear studs to connect the concrete deck to the girder, so the portion above the girder has to be chipped out by hand. Then removal of the girders has to be done by crane (which has costs and time to set up). Not in this case, but often the girders are too long and need temporary support during the de-erection process. Finally, few Owners would want to build a new bridge, and specify used girders. Even though not visible, I am sure there is rust at the girder ends (which could be chopped off and made shorter). There is also likely some rust at the interface between the deck and girder (de-icing salts and chlorides have likely seeped through the concrete deck), and along the bottom flange (where bird droppings trap precipitation and condensation and promote corrosion).

So if you were building a new bridge of similar size, the bridge would cost about $5,000 per m2 (of deck area). The structural steel is maybe $500 /m2. Would you specify used girders to save maybe $200**/m2 (there still a lot of effort required to move the girders, store them, reconfigure them, sandblast and coat, etc.)?

** - if we add the cost of taking great care in demolishing the bridge - it would cost more to re-use the girder.
 
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W. K. Lis said:
Too bad the city couldn't have installed a webcam for the "sidewalk superintendent" in us all. Guess the cost of webcam makes it impossible? lol. :eek: (What with the cost of motion picture film, developing, and broadcasting it.)
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At least others in the forum are briefing s on the status of the demolition
 
^The temporary signage they put up sucks. I finally located the ‘merge’ sign that indicates that the center lane on Dundas eb ends at Six Points Plaza..... it’s pretty much hidden by a second sign governing westbound traffic and facing the other way.

When things get further along, and more people have driven through the new roadwork more times, things will improve. I hope the permanent signage is way better than what’s there now.

- Paul
 
I hope they save the old signage for historical purposes and possibly integrate the retired signage into decorative signs in the new interchange design.

That would preserve history in a real cool way...
 
Amare said:
I wonder how Stephen Holyday (the official City of Toronto car advocate) feels about the demolition of the Six Points old configuration. He must be having a tough time this weekend.
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You mean he isn't banging his hand against the desk and crying seeing the photo at his consitiency office?
 
This morning was probably the fastest day yet getting through here. MiWay #76 westbound from Islington Station along Bloor and the new Dundas. Possibly even faster than before.

Waiting at Dixie now for a couple of minutes because we probably got ahead of schedule.

The closure of Kipling certainly had no effect on East-West traffic anyway....

Actually, thinking about it, it probably made it better because they could just let Dundas flow across Kipling without any red lights...
 
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