Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

[TGM]

I bet a new bridge could be inplace within 6 weeks after construction starts, given the right incentives.

It could, but after the required environmental impact studies, search for a transgendered-minority-women-owned business that serves fair-trade coffee, "concerned" residents townhalls, and other related nonsense it will take about 3 years. And if and when it is built it will have one reversible lane for cars and trucks and four bike lanes. Car and truck drivers will be required to pay a carbon off-set fee and must endure "share the road shouts" from biketavists while creeping along in their single undersized lane. Any person on foot will be granted stop transit authority if they should smell anything other than biodiesel being emitted from Wal-Mart trucks.

[heights]

It's not like all cyclists do this.

I doubt that the cyclists that do this are running stop lights and stop signs with cross traffic.

It's pretty much akin to motorists habitually going 5 to 10 over the limit and not using their signals to indicate a lane change or turn.

Not that this exonerates cyclists, but it's not like your people are any better. It's best to just get back to being angry with walmart.

In response to my post about deviant cyclists, you alluded to "your people" and "angry with walmart".

I take insult to this. I have never been angry with walmart. I am looking forward to the day it opens and I will shop there often. And stop signs and lights are not only to be obeyed when there is cross traffic approaching.

[TGM]

Back on OT....In just a few months time, The Leader headline will be "Heights Hipsters Convert" and forget about parking a car at Antidote or Premium Draught because the lot will be full of these:

Let 'em, the coffee there is shyte.

Does the Wal-goose come with catheters? That might be useful considering the amount of PBR that will be consumed there.

[fwki]

Does the Wal-goose come with catheters? That might be useful considering the amount of PBR that will be consumed there.

Yes, the leaky Chinese ones. However, Premium Draught will not have any chairs and service will be strictly Soup Nazi style to comply with CoH parking requirements with beer dispensed into Wal-Mart growlers, essentially Oak Farms gallon jugs which, incidentally, is what they use for their catheter reservoirs. I predict mass confusion in the parking lot as our hipsters fruitlessly attempt to distinguish between the fresh and used PBR vessels.

[samagon]

I like Oak Farms milk.

[Subdude]

Note sidebar discussion peeled off to a new topic here: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/27118-bike-gripes/#entry410000

[Heights20plusyears]

Yes, it is all funny when you completely ignore the consequences of exceeding the load on the bridge. Currently, money has been committed to fix the bridge. But it could take up to five years before the bridge is replaced. It will probably be at least a year before construction starts, probably closer to two or three years given the time needed to get the funding, bid out all the contracts and get everything rolling. If trucks continue to use the bridge, the structural integrity of the bridge could continue to decline to the point where officials will have no discretion but to close the bridge. It will take at least a year to complete construction of a new bridge, probably closer to two. If the bridge is closed before construction can start because truckers continually ignore the restriction, then we could be without the bridge for up to five years.

Of course, responsible people would have made sure that the bridge was adequate before allowing the construction of over 30 acres of strip malls and big boxes. But we are just some little backwater of a town that was too caught up in being picked to get a Walmart to make any rational decisions. Oh, no. Actually, we are one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the US and have no excuse for such an oversight.

Great. The Yale Street bridge will end up just like when the Heights bridge was repaired, a huge pissing match with what style ballisters needed to be used (which the majority of them are all cracked now and look nasty) and the amount of money that was wasted on the "historic looking lights" which have all disappeeard..probably to the scrap yard on Center Street. Another thought, how many HUGE (I'm talking 60 to 80 feet) steel beams went across that bridge? (yes..the former habitants of the property where WalMart is being built for those of you who just moved here and think they know what's best for The Heights).

Get over it. WalMart is being built and there is NOTHING you can do about it. Just like those of us that were SCREWED on the Historic District "Survey".

[samagon]

Of course, responsible people would have made sure that the bridge was adequate before allowing the construction of over 30 acres of strip malls and big boxes. But we are just some little backwater of a town that was too caught up in being picked to get a Walmart to make any rational decisions. Oh, no. Actually, we are one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the US and have no excuse for such an oversight.

Of course, responsible people would only do this when it's a big box store going in, responsible people wouldn't have checked it previously and recognized the capacity of the bridge was far lower than standards for that area (being a mix of residential and industrial area) should have been.

Responsible people would only care once a big box store was given the green light to build.

[s3mh]

How many 40 ton loads of stone went across that bridge in the last decade?

If the bridge is taken out of service early, we will get a new bridge sooner. However, I dont' think a truck every now and then is going to make the bridge fail.

I bet a new bridge could be inplace within 6 weeks after construction starts, given the right incentives.

Guess what? We have something called standards that are in place so that there is never a risk of a bridge failure (people tend to get killed when a bridge fails--not something you want to mess with). Once engineers find that the structural integrity of the bridge has reached a point where the risk of failure begins, they have to close the bridge until it is fixed or replaced. Exceeding the load limitations just puts the bridge on the fast track to the day when the engineers order the bridge to be closed. If the bridge gets closed prior to the time funding is available to build a new bridge, it will just sit there for months or years.

A permanent replacement bridge could not be constructed in 6 weeks under any circumstance. In fact, anything less than a year would be fast.

Currently, the plan is to start construction in 2016 (http://www.khou.com/news/A-bridge-too-old--Yale-Street-span-set-for-reconstruction-165670506.html). If the load limitations are violated continuously, causing the bridge to degrade faster, we could end up having the bridge closed for three to four years total, including construction, instead of one year.

[s3mh]

Great. The Yale Street bridge will end up just like when the Heights bridge was repaired, a huge pissing match with what style ballisters needed to be used (which the majority of them are all cracked now and look nasty) and the amount of money that was wasted on the "historic looking lights" which have all disappeeard..probably to the scrap yard on Center Street. Another thought, how many HUGE (I'm talking 60 to 80 feet) steel beams went across that bridge? (yes..the former habitants of the property where WalMart is being built for those of you who just moved here and think they know what's best for The Heights).

Get over it. WalMart is being built and there is NOTHING you can do about it. Just like those of us that were SCREWED on the Historic District "Survey".

It isn't my fault that people who lived in the neighborhood before me did not care that the steel plant violated the load restrictions. And there is no controversy over whether a safe bridge that can handle 18 wheeler traffic is what is best for the Heights. TxDOT, not the neighborhood, has determined the weight load limitations. All people in the neighborhood did was put pressure on public officials to get the funding fast tracked to fix a problem that had been ignored for decades.

[TGM]

Of course, responsible people would only do this when it's a big box store going in, responsible people wouldn't have checked it previously and recognized the capacity of the bridge was far lower than standards for that area (being a mix of residential and industrial area) should have been.

Responsible people would only care once a big box store was given the green light to build.

This no doubt, is failure of People's Central Planning Bureau. Our comrades previous 30 year plan had make attempt to limit growth in the Heights to that of 0.0004% per people's year, but young party members outgrow living allotments and want to make big living like Politburo elite. A tradgety that all must learn from if we dare not history repeat.

S3mh, please stop by party offices for punch and cookies. You have made big success in protests and will receive Order of Lenin.

Edited September 26, 2012 by TGM

[samagon]

It isn't my fault that people who lived in the neighborhood before me did not care that the steel plant violated the load restrictions. And there is no controversy over whether a safe bridge that can handle 18 wheeler traffic is what is best for the Heights. TxDOT, not the neighborhood, has determined the weight load limitations. All people in the neighborhood did was put pressure on public officials to get the funding fast tracked to fix a problem that had been ignored for decades.

Without Walmart the 'people in the neighborhood' wouldn't have put pressure on the public officials because they wouldn't have known or cared that anyone found the bridge to be inadequate.

[fwki]

I wish the City would just close the bridge now and make it a pedestrian fishing bridge. We already have a new one like 100' downstream. That would at least make up for losing my secret fishing spot by my secret old growth forest on the banks secretly beautiful White Oak Bayou at Frasier St. Then the bike path to nowhere could become a rallying place for a Haters' Million Seventeen Man March to throw rocks at the trucks rolling in 24/7 to the country's most successful Wal-Mart.

[TGM]

I wish the City would just close the bridge now and make it a pedestrian fishing bridge. We already have a new one like 100' downstream. That would at least make up for losing my secret fishing spot by my secret old growth forest on the banks secretly beautiful White Oak Bayou at Frasier St. Then the bike path to nowhere could become a rallying place for a Haters' Million Seventeen Man March to throw rocks at the trucks rolling in 24/7 to the country's most successful Wal-Mart.

The fish caught (Alligator gar?) can be sold as locally sourced seafood at Wal-Mart which will make some happy.

[Heights20plusyears]

It isn't my fault that people who lived in the neighborhood before me did not care that the steel plant violated the load restrictions. And there is no controversy over whether a safe bridge that can handle 18 wheeler traffic is what is best for the Heights. TxDOT, not the neighborhood, has determined the weight load limitations. All people in the neighborhood did was put pressure on public officials to get the funding fast tracked to fix a problem that had been ignored for decades.

We've always cared, but those of us that have lived here long before the McMansion invasion all know that anything South of I-10 is NOT The Heights.

[RedScare]

I hope they shut the bridge down. It would be great theatre watching the numbnuts who complained about the bridge being unsafe then do a 180 and wax apoplectic about the bridge closing.

[TGM]

I'm concerned that the proposed bridge repairs might adversely impact the mating habits of the endangered Heights bat that resides there.

"No, not a Wal-mart, noooo!"

[Heights20plusyears]

And where will the vagrants that live under it relocate to during construction?

[Pleak]

Mid-town.

[TGM]

Sorry, but I've done unionized the vagrants in Midtown. They'll need to get on a waiting list and have someone vouch for them before they can receive their Midtown benefits.

[Ross]

A permanent replacement bridge could not be constructed in 6 weeks under any circumstance. In fact, anything less than a year would be fast.

Currently, the plan is to start construction in 2016 (http://www.khou.com/...-165670506.html). If the load limitations are violated continuously, causing the bridge to degrade faster, we could end up having the bridge closed for three to four years total, including construction, instead of one year.

Planning and design might not be done in 6 weeks, but I bet most of the major construction firms could have the build complete in 6 weeks.That's about how long it akes to build a 350 foot section of elevated ramp, which is pretty similar to the bridge. it only took 8 weeks to replace the collapsed section of the Queen Isabella Causeway bridge over the Laguna Madre, and that had to be done with crane barges. It all depends on the incentives.

[samagon]

for relative reference between a freeway overpass and bridge, not so sure they're equatable, but they are building a 8 lane overpass at dixie farm road, this includes demo of the old bridge, building the new lanes for the underpass, feeders and signal lights for the feeder/dixie farm road, they turned off the dixie farm road overpass in June, it's going to be completed in November.

if the bridge degrades faster and they need to shut it down, they will move it higher on the priority list.

s3mh is being s3mh.

[TGM]

The reconstruction of the Pierce Elevated proved that major projects can be conducted in short time spans. There are several case studies out there that tout the Pierce project.

http://pubsindex.trb.org/view/2001/C/675801

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1996_1359795/pierce-elevated-reconstruction-set-bonuses-penalti.html

[RedScare]

During the I-45 reconstruction through Conroe, there were a few overpasses that were vital to the ability of residents in getting from one side of the freeway to the other. The state wrote incentives into the contract calling for demo and rebuild within 60 days, and penalties for failure to meet the deadline. The contractor beat the deadline. Considering the length of the overpasses, and the fact that they were located above a freeway versus a drainage ditch, I would suggest that, yes, s3mh is indeed being s3mh.

It must suck being wrong all the time.

[SilverJK]

yeah just turn the whole bridge into a pedestrian bridge to nowhere. = ]

S3mh... not sure if you know this... but WE is a plural pronoun...

[s3mh]

During the I-45 reconstruction through Conroe, there were a few overpasses that were vital to the ability of residents in getting from one side of the freeway to the other. The state wrote incentives into the contract calling for demo and rebuild within 60 days, and penalties for failure to meet the deadline. The contractor beat the deadline. Considering the length of the overpasses, and the fact that they were located above a freeway versus a drainage ditch, I would suggest that, yes, s3mh is indeed being s3mh.

It must suck being wrong all the time.

1. Heights bridge can handle 18 wheelers, is just a few hundred feet away and does not need to be reconstructed or repaired. Big difference between that and a bridge in a sprawled out suburb that would force people to take detours that were miles long.

2. This is not a TxDOT project. The city owns the bridge. Funding is not coming out of the usual CIP process, meaning we are getting leftover scraps from State and Federal dollars and you take what you can get. City has no extra funds to put towards incentives to get the bridge repaired.

3. It is much more than a drainage ditch. It is a central artery of the bayou system that can see extraordinary flood currents. Construction will be delayed when the bayou is up to high. And the constrution and engineering involved in constructing something that can withstand the velocity of flood waters makes it a significantly more complex and demanding undertaking that a highway overpass, which are built every day.

The world is not as simple a place as you want it to be. Just because something got built in Conroe doesn't mean squat about the funding, engineering and construction that needs to take place to get a new bridge over the bayou.

[s3mh]

for relative reference between a freeway overpass and bridge, not so sure they're equatable, but they are building a 8 lane overpass at dixie farm road, this includes demo of the old bridge, building the new lanes for the underpass, feeders and signal lights for the feeder/dixie farm road, they turned off the dixie farm road overpass in June, it's going to be completed in November.

if the bridge degrades faster and they need to shut it down, they will move it higher on the priority list.

s3mh is being s3mh.

It was never on the priority list. The City didn't schedule it as a CIP project. It is getting funded out of cycle with funds from the State and Feds making up the lionshare. It cannot move up any higher on the list unless someone finds additional money (which there is none). The City's only option to keep the bridge open is to make temporary repairs. But that is contingent upon emergency CIP funds being available. Temporary repairs will be a complete waste of money if the only reason for needing them is that the City won't take measures to enforce the weight restrictions.

[samagon]

It was never on the priority list.

if the bridge fell, or was condemned, you can bet it would be prioritized.

that you don't care to understand that is further s3mh being s3mh.

Edited September 27, 2012 by samagon

[Pleak]

Guess what? We have something called standards that are in place so that there is never a risk of a bridge failure (people tend to get killed when a bridge fails--not something you want to mess with). Once engineers find that the structural integrity of the bridge has reached a point where the risk of failure begins, they have to close the bridge until it is fixed or replaced. Exceeding the load limitations just puts the bridge on the fast track to the day when the engineers order the bridge to be closed. If the bridge gets closed prior to the time funding is available to build a new bridge, it will just sit there for months or years.

A permanent replacement bridge could not be constructed in 6 weeks under any circumstance. In fact, anything less than a year would be fast.

Currently, the plan is to start construction in 2016 (http://www.khou.com/...-165670506.html). If the load limitations are violated continuously, causing the bridge to degrade faster, we could end up having the bridge closed for three to four years total, including construction, instead of one year.

It took just under a year to rebuild the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. That was something like an 8-10 lane bridge and 1200 feet long. I realize that the big ditch by the Heights can see extraordinary currents - but are you really comparing it to the Mississippi?

[SilverJK]

It took just under a year to rebuild the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. That was something like an 8-10 lane bridge and 1200 feet long. I realize that the big ditch by the Heights can see extraordinary currents - but are you really comparing it to the Mississippi?

That can't be used as a comparison because it makes s3mh's point invalid...and s3mh being s3mh said that we know it would take longer. WE KNOW!