20 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

This had been talked about on the forum before but I don't think it ever had it's own thread. Let me know if I've missed it.

 

An update was held last month on the status of the project. This is what was shown. 

 

The dedicated bus lanes seem to have been dropped in favor of protected bike lanes. A raised landscaped median will be added, but turn lanes will be retained at major intersections.  Parking will remain on the South side of the street. Bike lanes will have a larger area of separation and appear to be protected by curbs.

 

 

 

Construction is expected to begin Fall 2020 (pending the completion of the White Settlement Rd bridge) and last a year. 

[txbornviking]

This IMHO, at first blush, seems quite encouraging

[Volare]

Protected bike lanes would be fantastic.

[JSJ]

Wow - protected bike lanes with a physical barrier!  GREAT!  

 

I just wish FW did not have to abandon their original plan – which was to get rid of parking on the South side of the street. 

 

I was on an eastbound bus a few weeks ago and a crash would have occurred, if not for the quick reaction time of the bus driver, with a car pulling out from the curb.  I always ask bus drivers about this and have heard horror stories, especially with drivers who hold up traffic and to try to parallel park in a space that is too small or they need several attempts to make it.

[Dylan]

The protected bike lanes look great! However, I don't like seeing on-street parking adjacent to narrow travel lanes.

 

IMO, they should remove the on-street parking, make each lane a foot wider, and widen the median.

 

Unfortunately, there are many people who oppose removing parking spaces.

[Doohickie]

Wow - protected bike lanes with a physical barrier!  GREAT! 

 

I appreciate the effort, but I wonder if people crossing the bike lane to get to their parked cars will even think to look for bicycles in the lane or if they'll just walk up to their cars.  I'm also concerned that the parked cars will hide cyclists from view and there could be collisions when cars turn right off of W7th.

[John T Roberts]

Maybe if all of the cyclists had super bright head and tail lights, they would be visible enough for the pedestrians and other cars to notice them.

[Doohickie]

It might work out fine but I have my concerns.

[rriojas71]

I like the plan but the thin medians are a bit disappointing. They are not going to be able to support the planting of trees which I was hoping would turn into a tree-lined W7th.


I also notice that they show the proposed realignment of Stayton St.

[John T Roberts]

Stayton should be realigned.  I have seen many cars and pedestrians nearly hit because of the way the intersection is laid out.

[Austin55]

Now that the WS bridge is open, this project should be underway soon.

[John T Roberts]

As of today, the work on the realignment of Stayton is already underway and they have also started the redesign of West 7th Street.

[Doohickie]

As of today?  A good chunk of the concrete has already been laid.

[John T Roberts]

Doohickie, I am generalizing.  I was on the street today, but having to pay too much attention to the traffic.  I had noticed a few weeks ago they had started work on the realignment of Stayton, but didn't post it.

[panthercity]

Thanks John! Whats to happen of the old Stayton street space?

[txbornviking]

https://www.fortwort...cts/cfw-west7th

 

Museum Way:

• Under contract with 2L Construction.
• Signal poles have been installed and a portion of the roadway has been poured.
• Access to Trinity Park from Museum Way may be intermittently closed.
• Estimated construction completion: May 2021.

[Doohickie]

Thanks John! Whats to happen of the old Stayton street space?

I'm pretty sure it's an even exchange:  Grassy area converted to street; street converted to grassy area.

[txbornviking]

I guess we should be thankful this project isn't as delayed as the White Settlement bridge, or what was the South Main complete street redo was, but what was a 9-10month project is now set to be a 14-15month project.

COVID or not, 50% time overruns really should be seen as unacceptable, especially for something that is only 0.75mi of work.

 

 

https://www.star-tel...e261640002.html

[Stadtplan]

I guess we should be thankful this project isn't as delayed as the White Settlement bridge, or what was the South Main complete street redo was, but what was a 9-10month project is now set to be a 14-15month project.

COVID or not, 50% time overruns really should be seen as unacceptable, especially for something that is only 0.75mi of work.

 

 

https://www.star-tel...e261640002.html

 

I haven't had a chance to look at the article, but would be curious if they mentioned liquidated damages.  I don't know about city contracts, but larger highway projects typically have liquidated damages for schedule overruns ($'s / day owed for delays) as well as some contracts may offer incentives per day for each day they finish early. That's why you might see crews working weekends on major roadways and bridges either trying to make-up time or tap into those early completion payments.  Just depends on how the contract is written. 

 

There's a street near me that the concrete crew finished up their portion close to a month ago and all of the final landscaping and clean-up work sits untouched and a mess.  I'm guessing it boils down to availability, but if the contractor responsible had more pressure on them to finish it up, it likely would be done by now.  Not as big of a deal unless you're a home owner that has to look at that mess all summer.

[JBB]

All of the financial penalties in the world may not be enough to overcome the material and labor shortages that are still very real and not completely in the control of contractors.  The article doesn't mention that, but I can't imagine that's not in play.

[Stadtplan]

That's municipal construction for you; never in a hurry.  Material and labor escalation is something contractors better start to factor in when bidding a project.  In some trades, I've heard of bids where the pricing is only good for 10-days and gone are the days where prices are held for 30- or 60-days while owners and GC's decide what to do or how they're going to pay for it.  There's plenty of projects in DFW (far bigger than this one) that are cruising right along, so I'd like to know more about what specifically they are having delays.

 

I heard the other day where a manufacturer that typically charged around $2,000 for a large shipment of material (like a whole truckload) all of a sudden jumped to $8,000.  I'm sure most of that is pass-through cost from the carrier but freight is getting insane!  This was high value freight so it was probably a special hauler with a super fancy rig but just an extreme example what's going on out there.  I read an article yesterday that DOT marijuana regulations (zero tolerance policy) cited over 10,000 drivers with violations which is now causing additional driver shortages.  https://www.mysuncoa...in-disruptions/