Discussions

Set to open on Friday. Let the chaos begin.

so the people that drove 70 km/hr thru the detour all during the construction can now drive 80+ km/hr over the new bridge...At least I wont get cut off 5 feet before the barricade anymore. Perfect time to set up the speed traps.  
 
Edited by daisychain, 2017-12-06 15:30:27

It will be nice to have traffic flowing using both lanes again. I think this project went really well all things considered. I would anticipate traffic will move very smoothly once both sides are opened. Looking forward to seeing how things look come this summer once some of the landscaping gets done. Good job to those who worked the past two years on this.

Hats off to all you hard workers! So nice to hear it is finished! Well done!

It will sure be nice when the bridge is open and things are back to normal. I noticed with the new bridges from the looks of things there will be no access to Pacific Avenue coming off the bridge going north or south. I'm sure that will be inconvenience to some people.

The_Young_Man said "It will sure be nice when the bridge is open and things are back to normal. I noticed with the new bridges from the looks of things there will be no access to Pacific Avenue coming off the bridge going north or south. I'm sure that will be inconvenience to some people. "

Just wait how "inconvenient" it will be when they start to work on the 18th street bridge ...

Reston said "    The_Young_Man said "It will sure be nice when the bridge is open and things are back to normal. I noticed with the new bridges from the looks of things there will be no access to Pacific Avenue coming off the bridge going north or south. I'm sure that will be inconvenience to some people. " Just wait how "inconvenient" it will be when they start to work on the 18th street bridge ... "

Oh the price we pay for improvements

to all the construction workers who had to endure all sorts of weather over the past 2 years to complete this project. Many of you worked through long weekends and regular weekends to meet the demands of this bridge. Thank you and may all of you get some good quality time off to relax and enjoy family time!!

99sportster said "    Reston said "    The_Young_Man said "It will sure be nice when the bridge is open and things are back to normal. I noticed with the new bridges from the looks of things there will be no access to Pacific Avenue coming off the bridge going north or south. I'm sure that will be inconvenience to some people. " Just wait how "inconvenient" it will be when they start to work on the 18th street bridge ... " Oh the price we pay for improvements "

No doubt it is an improvement - just not so much if you live in the north end and you have no way to cross the tracks since they took the 8th street bridge down with no alternative for pedestrians to cross and if they start on 18th street bridge it will be a long walk to 26th .

Adam said " I have yet to read a compelling case for why after the dust settles 1st will be worse off with two beautiful lanes flowing in each direction compared to the construction zone of the last couple years and the old bridge before that.     18ths turn to get crazy and throw temporary pressure to 1st and 26th.... it won’t be pretty but all a case of short term pain for long term gain. These aren’t the kinds of things that are fixed with magic wands but I’m glad that, one step at a time, traffic flow is being addressed for a growing city that badly needs it! "

Couple of things I think we need to take into consideration here:  
 
- The lights at 1st and Kirkcauldy are horrid. There's times all four lanes have a red.  
 
- The feeder roads into 1st N are single lane (Kirkcaldy and Braecrest). whereas 1st st S could and can handle traffic flow with the likes of Rosser Ave and Victoria.  
26th St. isn't in any better position IMO, McDonald/Stickney aren't exactly made for that kind of traffic influx.  
 
Foot traffic needs to be addressed.  
 
Kirkcaldy will become the defacto "main street" to the Corral Centre. Brace yourselves for that horror show.  
 
I foresee highway 1A from Kemnay getting a lot more attention from those in the Westend.  
 
Don't get me wrong I'm very much for these upgrades and given that I work on the hill these upgrades have very much and will continue to affect my life daily for some time.  
I just wish the city had made some improvements street level in these areas before hand.

Unless they make some way for people to still cross 18th during construction. Like they did on 1st st?

It’s like taking off a bandaid. Just close the bridge completely and get the job done faster.

Goodtimes56 said "It’s like taking off a bandaid. Just close the bridge completely and get the job done faster. "

They are going to take one lane off the existing bridge to allow construction of the first two lane bridge. Then they will tear down the remaining 2 lanes, and build the second bridge. Much like first street.

Where does the expansion go? The old building to the east is to close, business and homes to the west. Something has to give.  
 
Have plans even been released for the design yet?

So you would prefer that they leave the second bridge closed and continue to detour? The bridges look great and were built on time. Congratulations on being negative.

Spaghettie said "So you would prefer that they leave the second bridge closed and continue to detour? The bridges look great and were built on time. Congratulations on being negative. "

I guess I should have used the sarcasm font  
 
No not in the least but I have very little faith in local drivers figuring out this new fangled twin bridge system.  
 
They will be confused by the lack of merge signs, then they will be gawking at the new structure, then confused by the new lights and signage at Rosser. The first person who wants to turn right onto Pacific will be in for a surprise. (chaos)  
 
I agree the bridges look great, and they came in on time.  
 
Congratulations on the lack of a sense of humour.

Will be a large undertaking by the government/city. Its going to cost a fortune as a good number of buildings will be getting bought out to make room for keeping pacific accessible via 18th st.  
 
I wont go into details but 7-8 buildings will be disappearing for the bridge work in that area, on both sides. This isnt limited to 7-8 business's as some are inside of strip malls..  
 
The city/government are working out deals right now and are releasing a few designs of how the intersection could look. All of which involves the business's in the area to be gone.

on the 18th St likely won't be starting for another 2 or 3 years would be my guess.

Is the projected start. Kind of a wide window.

Spring of 2019

The construction crew is scheduled to come back in the spring of 2018 to finish working on access from 1st to pacific. You will be able to turn onto pacific when coming from the north, once completed. But will not be able to cross onto 1st to head north.

Are the pedestrian lights on the 1st street east side bridge working yet, does anyone know?

Via today's Sun, there'll be an open house on Tues from 6-8 where design ideas will be presented to the public and feedback gathered. Good idea to attend if you're passionate about the project and/or live or work in the area effected but I hope they'll also seek out online feedback... it's always been a bit of a pet peeve of mine when levels of government pick one place, one time window, then take what they hear from the few people that make that one meeting at that one time as being representative of all public feedback and run with it. Too easy in 2017 not to have a web based or email based survey like what's been part of the 8th street bridge project in the past. At any rate, as another poster mentioned above the story states Manitoba Infrastructure doesn't see starting construction before 2019.

I wouldn't bet on those lights to be operational anytime soon. Look at the ones on the 18th St bridge. How many years has that bridge been done and they still have not been turned on. What a waste of tax dollars.