Pierce Elevated

[Pleak]

I-45 as a park through the western part of downtown...

So you're saying leave all the structures in place and just put some sod down? I like it for the cost efficiency! All it would take is a couple of crews of immigrant laborers maybe two weeks and Presto! We could have our own version of the High Line park in NY to go with our own Central Park! Cool - Maybe on Pelican Island we could put the Bagwell/Oil Derrick/Space Shuttle statue at the entrance to the Ship Channel and have our very own Statue of TX Liberty and Ellis Island! (Pelican Island was an immigration station after all)

The ultimate NY copy-cat triumvirate!

[samagon]

**** it.

just close all freeways inside of 610. make 610 10 lanes wide for each direction.

put in a subway (cause I like their $5 footlongs) at each light rail stop.

[Pleak]

**** it.

just close all freeways inside of 610. make 610 10 lanes wide for each direction.

put in a subway (cause I like their $5 footlongs) at each light rail stop.

You forgot to put the wall on the inside of your 10-lane 610. That way all the nasty suburbanites for sure have to stay out of the promised land as they zip in circles around it.

[woolie]

You forgot to put the wall on the inside of your 10-lane 610. That way all the nasty suburbanites for sure have to stay out of the promised land as they zip in circles around it.

I like your thinking.

[Specwriter]

You forgot to put the wall on the inside of your 10-lane 610. That way all the nasty suburbanites for sure have to stay out of the promised land as they zip in circles around it.

Ringstrasse! Sehr gut.

[Slick Vik]

Sounds like a good idea. But I think people would be more for burying than sending traffic to boulevards.

[OnTheOtherHand]

While we're dreaming, here's my idea:

 

Phase 1: Build a new sunken highway along the railroad right-of-way extending from Highway 59 just south of Buffalo Bayou to I-45 near U of H.  Put the rail lines below grade too so they don't divide the east side of town.

 

Phase 2. With Phase 1 relieving some traffic, shut down Highway 59 from the I-45 intersection to just south of the bayou, rebuild it below grade, and cover it to create parks and/or commercial property.

 

Phase 3. With Phases 1 and 2 relieving traffic, eliminate through traffic on the Pierce Elevated.  Maintain some existing ramps that connect I-10 to downtown on the west side.  Keep the existing Pierce Elevated structure (maybe narrow it by 50% at parts) and convert it to an elevated park (like NYC's High Line) with elevated connections to future residential & commercial properties and running & bike paths that connect to existing bike paths near I-10 and to future paths heading toward U of H.    

 

 

[mkultra25]

I've lived in Houston all my life and the Pierce Elevated doesn't bother me. I guess I don't expect every bridge in Houston to be the Fred Hartman. Maybe we can get Santiago Calatrava to design us a cable stayed Pierce Elevated with less bounce due to less expansion joints from less support columns. We could even have the tower shaped like a cross to match the St. Joseph Professional Building.

Those of you who think the Pierce Elevated is bad now, who remembers when it was in its original early 60s configuration? All you'd hear is "kathunkkathunkkathunkkathunk" while driving over it, and the travel over it was a bit bouncier.

 

I seem to recall some media coverage around the time that the rebuilt Pierce Elevated reopened indicating that it wasn't supposed to be as bouncy after the reconstruction as it turned out. The general contractor got a performance bonus for every day that they were ahead of schedule when the project was completed, and it was either implied or stated outright that the bounce was directly related to corners being cut to ensure that work was completed well ahead of schedule. 

 

Does this jog anyone else's memory, or am I misremembering the details? An online search only yielded this report on rapid bridge replacement techniques, with the info related to the Pierce Elevated on page 95.

Summary No. 17: I-45/Pierce Elevated, Houston, Texas

The Pierce Elevated, built in 1961, had reached the end of its useful life and needed to be

replaced. To mitigate motorist complaints TxDOT provided the public with extensive

information prior to the start of work so that travelers could make adjustments to their

routes. Money for the project was received from the federal bridge replacement and

rehabilitation fund.

Demolition, by Penhall Co., removed 1.64 miles of the existing three-lane structure in

just 17 days. Traylor Brothers won the construction bid, and work was contracted under

a plan that called for work 24 hours a day, seven days a week with a penalty/bonus of

$53,000 per day. The decision to use pre-cast bents, constructed offsite, was made

because of limited space on both sides of the construction project, the accelerated

schedule, and repetitive nature of the work. Tops of the existing piers were saw cut to the

appropriate elevation and the lower portions reused. The new pre-cast pier caps were

anchored to the top of existing piers via post tension bar dowels. Dowel drilling and

placement took an average of 2 hours per bent. Pre-cast inverted “T” caps and deck

panels were used to help reduce onsite construction time. The time saving resulted in the

northbound project finishing seven days ahead of the 95-day schedule. The contract for

the southbound lanes, treated as a separate project, operated in much the same way. But,

an additional penalty of $3,500 per day late fee for going beyond the 325-day contract

length for the entire project (north and south bound) was included. The southbound

portion was re-opened 23 days ahead of schedule.

Reference:

Feldstein (1996a), Feldstein (1996b), Johnson (1997), Sallee (1997) and Vogel (1999)

[samagon]

Mkultra25, yes, I recall. The irony of it all was, part of the point of the rebuild was that it would get rid of the bounce.