hindesky Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 This the second Friday that I haven't seen any work or workers on site. I see zero progress from last week. At this rate this will be taking forever. I wonder what is going on? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Calhoun St bridge is going to be replaced, it has 6 rows of columns which could really impede water flow. Plus it looks like they will raise it too, the south end streets are being dug up. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Back at work after not seeing any workers for the last 2 Fridays on the Almeda St bridge. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X.R. Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 I never noticed the six columns on the Calhoun bridge, and my question to the designers on the forum: was water flow and the like not a thought when these bridges were built? If they are able to do such a bridge with two sets of columns or what not vs 6, why not do that from the beginning? I am 100% for all of this, it just seems like alot of what is done by the city of Houston is correcting design choices that overutilized concrete/construction materials. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Concrete is far stronger now than it used to be, and these bridges are quite old. If you look at concrete bridges in general, there has been a trend in a reduction of columns over time, especially comparing bridges built in the 1930s (my guess on the age of this bridge) to those built today. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MexAmerican_Moose Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 Here in Texas, the "row of columns" are called bents, in some other places in the country/world, they're called piers. The first and last bents of a bridge are called abutments. The number of bents is determined by superstructure type (CIP slab, slab beams, box beams, concrete i-girders or steel girders) and hydraulics of the stream. The bigger the beam, => the longer the span, => the less number of bents, => the deeper the bridge, => the less space under the bridge for water to flow. The water flow through a bridge is calculated by hydraulic engineers who determine whether the bridge needs to be raised or extended to accommodate the water flow. 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 2 minutes ago, MexAmerican_Moose said: Here in Texas, the "row of columns" are called bents, in some other places in the country/world, they're called piers. The first and last bents of a bridge are called abutments. The number of bents is determined by superstructure type (CIP slab, slab beams, box beams, concrete i-girders or steel girders) and hydraulics of the stream. The bigger the beam, => the longer the span, => the less number of bents, => the deeper the bridge, => the less space under the bridge for water to flow. The water flow through a bridge is calculated by hydraulic engineers who determine whether the bridge needs to be raised or extended to accommodate the water flow. Less space for water to flow? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MexAmerican_Moose Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, H-Town Man said: Less space for water to flow? Yes, in bridge design, the bridge engineer doesn't change the road profile (difficult to change in urban areas), so the deeper beam will create less area under the bridge for the water to flow. More area was added (thicker bridge) to impede water flow than was removed by taking out a couple of bents. However, less bents is also good because it prevents debris from being trapped at the columns and impeding water flow. It takes just a couple of iterations to get it right. Also a lot of the new bridges are being built with recently updated rain/hydraulic data. Edited July 13, 2021 by MexAmerican_Moose 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 driving home last night I noticed that the Telephone Road bridge appears to be near completion, from my untrained eye, it looks like they just need to add some landscaping, and paint some lines on the road. I also made a point of looking at the Wayside bridge, it has many columns, or as I am learning from this thread, bents, so I guess that one will probably go under the knife after the finish Telephone? I wonder about Spur 5 near UH, will those need to be rebuilt too? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 On 7/12/2021 at 11:58 AM, X.R. said: I never noticed the six columns on the Calhoun bridge, and my question to the designers on the forum: was water flow and the like not a thought when these bridges were built? If they are able to do such a bridge with two sets of columns or what not vs 6, why not do that from the beginning? I am 100% for all of this, it just seems like alot of what is done by the city of Houston is correcting design choices that overutilized concrete/construction materials. That's exactly what it is. We are correcting a lot of things from poor design and planning. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MexAmerican_Moose Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 (edited) I'm sure the required hydraulic opening of the original bridge design (open area under bridge) is much, much lower than what is calculated now (newer rainfall data, more construction upstream of the bayou/more stormwater runoff). https://www.projectbrays.org/all-segments/segment-1/about-telephone-bridge/ https://bridgehunter.com/tx/harris/bh50785/ This bridge is from 1931!! Great service life. I like the old school rails on the bridge tho, i wish we constructed more similar rails in TX. We cant because of the traffic rating required at high speeds. Edited July 14, 2021 by MexAmerican_Moose 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 On 7/14/2021 at 3:44 PM, MexAmerican_Moose said: https://bridgehunter.com/tx/harris/bh50785/ This bridge is from 1931!! Great service life. I like the old school rails on the bridge tho, i wish we constructed more similar rails in TX. We cant because of the traffic rating required at high speeds. you have to remember that bride was built for Model T type cars, back when the Old Spanish Trail was the main east-west route in the southern US. It looks like a typical 1920's bridge, you can still find them all over the place, most have been decommissioned 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MexAmerican_Moose Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 i knew i had it seen it before in the standards, i need to do more low speed bridges...found a TxDot rail standard for an aesthetically pleasing rail https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/cmd/cserve/standard/bridge/rlstd021-20.pdf 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 I am kind of surprised that the concrete paving of the bayou channel has lasted so well. Considering that the concrete at the condo tower that collapsed in Florida was "rapidly deteriorating" because of standing pools of water, this must be a very different type of concrete if it can go 70+ years of constant water and debris and still look like it's ready for another 70. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 52 minutes ago, H-Town Man said: I am kind of surprised that the concrete paving of the bayou channel has lasted so well. Considering that the concrete at the condo tower that collapsed in Florida was "rapidly deteriorating" because of standing pools of water, this must be a very different type of concrete if it can go 70+ years of constant water and debris and still look like it's ready for another 70. Also not exposed to salt water. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 also not exposed to explosives.... (yeah, watch the video in slo motion) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted July 17, 2021 Share Posted July 17, 2021 12 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said: also not exposed to explosives.... (yeah, watch the video in slo motion) You can’t be serious. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtNsf Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 On 4/5/2021 at 6:29 PM, hindesky said: They have also torn down the Buffalo Speedway bridge over Brays. Actually was a good thing for me because I was chasing a Bike Tag somewhere on Brays and this forced me turn around and go eastbound where I ended up finding it. The Bike Tag turned out to be at McGregor Park near UH. forgive my stupidity here, but just wondered what a "bike tag" is ? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 56 minutes ago, ArtNsf said: forgive my stupidity here, but just wondered what a "bike tag" is ? Thanks. Bike Tag is a game some people play on Reddit/bikehouston https://www.reddit.com/r/bikehouston/. You find a unique accessible site and take a pic of your bike with the object/site/mural. Riders have to find that tag and then create a new tag. I've been playing for years and is something I often look for when riding around. You look for clues in the pic and then use Google/Google Maps to try finding the pic. It got really popular during the covid shutdown since many were working from home. It has slowed down recently because many are back at work but were are up to Tag #367. I first started playing at Tag#39. Someone has now created a Bike Tag map to help prevent reusing past tags. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtNsf Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 On 7/22/2021 at 11:17 AM, hindesky said: Bike Tag is a game some people play on Reddit/bikehouston https://www.reddit.com/r/bikehouston/. You find a unique accessible site and take a pic of your bike with the object/site/mural. Riders have to find that tag and then create a new tag. I've been playing for years and is something I often look for when riding around. You look for clues in the pic and then use Google/Google Maps to try finding the pic. It got really popular during the covid shutdown since many were working from home. It has slowed down recently because many are back at work but were are up to Tag #367. I first started playing at Tag#39. Someone has now created a Bike Tag map to help prevent reusing past tags. thank you. i appreciate the information. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Almeda bridge replacement. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highrise Tower Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 A few trails have been registered with TDLR. I'm really glad to see this! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Calhoun St bridge and S. McGregor. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Telephone road bridge is open. not sure when they opened it, but I used it this past weekend. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbd2000 Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 Did I miss it or is there no connector to the brays bayou trail from the new telephone road bridge? Wish there was a connector to to graggs park across the road. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Almeda bridge approach is getting the concrete and new pillars have been installed. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyc05 Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 52 minutes ago, hindesky said: Almeda bridge approach is getting the concrete and new pillars have been installed. Hurry hurry I'm tired of making that uturn 🤦🏽♂️ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hindesky Posted September 5, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 5, 2021 (edited) Almeda bridge looking southbound, only two support columns for better water flow and the approach appears to be at least 12"+ higher than the existing road. Calhoun bridge. Edited April 30, 2022 by hindesky 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted September 24, 2021 Share Posted September 24, 2021 Almeda St bridge. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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