City
CityPlace pedestrian bridge closed after inspection
Sorry CityPlace residents, but that nice yellow pedestrian bridge that opened last Friday has been temporarily closed after a City of Toronto inspection. Although officials are staying tight-lipped about the details, Helen Noehammer, the City's Director of Development Engineering, revealed in an email that "a number of deficiencies were identified" during the inspection process. Concord Adex has thus restricted access to the bridge until it can address the inspector's concerns.
Speculation over at Urban Toronto cites concerns related to the mesh-covering on the bridge and the possibility that the expansion joints pose a tripping hazard, but the City declined to reveal specific problems until staff have a chance to meet with Concord Adex. That meeting is supposed to take place sometime later this week.
Predictably, what that means is it's impossible to give a concrete timeline on when the bridge will reopen. In a statement released earlier today, Concord Adex confirmed this much in saying that "while it is difficult to determine a precise date for the re-opening of the bridge, we are confident that a resolution will be implemented in the near future." It would appear the issues are of the minor variety, though — so perhaps this is case. We'll provide an update when we know more.
Update (November 5th):
On Friday afternoon, Concord Adex distributed an updated statement on the status of the bridge. While it's still short on details, it does confirm that there are no structural deficiencies and speculates that the bridge should re-open within a month. It's pasted below.
"Since the Puente de Luz, or 'Bridge of Light,' was temporarily closed by the City of Toronto on October 26, Concord Adex has been working diligently with its city partners to ensure that the bridge can re-open as quickly as possible.
In a final inspection that was completed last week, the City did not identify any structural concerns and indicated that the nature of the deficiencies were minor. After receiving additional clarification from Concord Adex and its team of engineers and contractors, the City agreed that a straightforward resolution is at hand.
It is difficult to determine a precise date for the re-opening of the bridge. However, we are confident that, in continued cooperation with the City, all deficiencies can be corrected and approvals granted within one month."
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Also, this is a public bridge, the public should be informed of all details that made them close it.
The bridge itself looks fine, its just the color that's bad. I hope they decide to re-paint it.
Speaking of bridges, how about fixing up the rusty bathurst bridge?
It's so grey in that part of town, I think the yellow is actually a nice contrast.
and aesthetically, this bridge is an eyesore. par for the course in this town when it comes to public space and amenities. no thought, no planning, and as cheap as possible.
/grump
Not so many complaints about the other CityPlace art installations...why not start bashing the canoe? I mean, it's bright red and missing a big piece of the hull...surely it's not sea-worthy. That's enough to complain about...right?
Has anyone actually seen this bridge up close?
It is all kinds of awful.
I don't get the complaints about the colour. Sure, it could be punchier. At least it stands out - which is the point: there's enough grey and brown down there as it is. What other colour should it be?
As for the ramps, it's because the bridge could only be in that location according to GO and Via, whereas the ramps are where people are most likely to get on: at the end of Portland and, uh, somewhere on Iceboat Terrace between two buildings, I guess.
and
2 - FAIL on having the bridge shut down as soon as it's opened.
As far as everything else goes, they're all aesthetic complaints. It's a bridge. The colour is uninspiring, but it can be repainted. Based on the suspected issues surrounding its failed inspection, quality of construction isn't likely the issue. Tripping hazard due to expansion joints? Why don't the inspectors review ~75% of Toronto's streets for its various sunken curbs, potholes, cracks and uneven surfaces first. If you trip over a wide expansion joint, you deserve it.
- Build supplementary ramps facing west on either side.
- Paint it red to match canoe and the sculpture at the foot of Telegram Mews.
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/te/bgrd/backgroundfile-19892.pdf
'The bridge’s height above the tracks has been determined by the requirement for train engineers to maintain adequate sight lines to the train signals above the tracks. This
requirement is not flexible, as GO Transit must ensure the safe passage of its trains through the corridor. The final bridge height of approximately 11.7 metres above the tracks is higher than originally anticipated, requiring ramps approximately 36.5 m long along the south side of Front Street and also within the Northern Linear Park, in the
Railway Lands West.
The east-west location of the bridge has been set by the location of a required support pier in the railway corridor. This is the only location acceptable to GO Transit. The pier
will be embedded into a retaining wall that is being reconstructed by GO Transit.
Although the bridge itself is east of Portland Street and Dan Leckie Way, the ends of the access ramps will line up with these streets.'
It's unfortunate, but I don't see the point of adding steps facing west, certainly not on Front where there is basically no sidewalk and no foot traffic vs lining it up with Front/Portland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hknVoAoyy-k
The bus can't swim.