Sep 29 2024 - Tunnel? Bridge!

 

What makes a tunnel more attractive than a bridge?  Why not an elevated accomplishment rather than a buried one?   Ontario has some good bridges - excellent for tourism. Take a look through them HERE.  This is a Tripadvisor overview. But Ontario doesn't have a lot of terrain that makes for grand bridges.  Except for Niagara Falls. The Niagara River boasts some beautiful bridges. I was on a garden tour one year and the house was on the River Road, and I turned around and looked towards Niagara Falls and saw the Lewiston bridge in the distance.  What a beautiful sight.   We are minor in comparison to the longest bridge in the world.  it is the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway.  It is 164,800 metres long and is a viaduct.  It is for high-speed rail.  Isn't that over 164 kilometres long?  That makes it the longest bridge in the world.  A bridge the length of the 401 "tunnel" is only 51 kilometres.  Would it even make the list of long bridges?  So what about a feasibility study for bridge vs tunnel.  Somehow a bridge or a tunnel - both studies seem like a consulting boondoggle. Tens of millions of dollars poured into a study. Not an actual build-something boondoggle which is tens of billions (probably hundreds of billions knowing our estimating skills in Ontario) of dollars. Could that be what it is?  Some friends of Doug Ford are in the feasibility study consulting business and this would be build their retirement fund? If I were a journalist, I might travel down that path - following the money is a good route.  There are a number of tunnel feasibility consultants that could be looked into.  Any of the Metrolinx shortlist companies for tunnelling on the Scarborough Subway and Eglinton Crosstown extensions might be the candidates.  Maybe there's another angle to track.  Quite a different one.  What if this is a prelude to Doug Ford buying back the 407?  I expect there will be more headlines on this topic shortly. Look at that great Rainbow Bridge.

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Nov 23 2023 - Bentley Up in Smoke at U.S. Border

 

It is on the front page of the Globe and Mail today - a car blew up on the American side of the Canadian-US Border in Niagara Falls at the Rainbow Bridge yesterday.  It blew up so substantially that there was no license plate to find.  There was nothing left but the engine.  It incinerated.   The conclusion on the explosion is that it is not an act of Terrorism.   People thinking they were going to a Thanksgiving Dinner today are definitely delayed.  There are 15 car inspection lanes into Canada and 16 into the U.S.  You can imagine they were full. Add to that - All of the bridges in Niagara were closed because of the explosion.  All those cars had to turn around to go back to Canada.  There are people roaming Clifton Hill wondering what to do.   The other three bridges are open again, but you can imagine the wait times. We have signs on the highway giving the wait times during the peak season.  I wonder what they say today. This brings up the Canadian vs American Thanksgiving differences.  A key difference seems to be that Canadians don't go on a shopping spree the day before Thanksgiving.  There's no massive line-up of cars to get the Thursday before Black Friday deals. That's partly because our Thanksgiving is on a Monday so really is a holiday.  Our holiday is more low-key.  We don't have huge parades in front of Macy's, football spectaculars and pressure from the New York Times to cook the perfect meal.  The next difference is that we don't head out for a shopping craze the day after Thanksgiving.  So perhaps with no berserk shopping lines the day before and the day after, we generally have a more "thankful" time.  At least we have a less violent sense to our Thanksgiving weekend.  We don't leave the dishes in the sink to go camp out all night in front of ToyRUs stores - supposedly that behaviour is history now.  Stores still open at 5am.  Even here in Canada some will open at 6am - again just a little more relaxed here. This is our favourite Canadian vs American Thanksgiving joke. And a Harvest interpretation.

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Sep 13 2022 - Mending Bridges

 

Can you imagine?  The original bridge crossing the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, named the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed in 1938 due to an ice jam on the river.   Massive chunks of ice began to accumulate below the bridge on January 23rd, 1938. This was precipitated by a powerful wind storm that blew ice from Lake Erie down the Niagara River and over the Horseshoe and the American Falls.  It was the bridge's close proximity to the water level that was the problem..   "During the fateful week in 1938, the Niagara river bed rose to 9 feet high, thus engulfing the Maid of the Mist docks and everything else around it. Suddenly the abutments of the Honeymoon Bridge were encased with ice. Knowing that the bridge would collapse on any given day, all vehicle traffic was ceased to a halt the day prior to the Niagara Falls Bridge Collapse on January 26th."  There was film footage of this at the time.  It is HERE.   Thousands of spectators watched from both sides as the collapse occurred. I went looking for images of the construction of the new arch, started in 1940 and completed in 1941.  "The bridge is a hingeless steel arch, and when it was first built was reportedly the longest hingeless steel arch ever constructed. The bridge's steel is composed of built-up beams that are riveted together. The bridge appears to retain good historic integrity with no major alterations to the superstructure noted. The bridge's solid rib arch and minimal bracing give this bridge an appearance that is quite modern in comparison to other bridges built during this time."   Here in the definitive article on its construction - August 28, 1941 Engineering News-Record describes of the method of erection.    And when the bridge opened November 1st 1941, which dignitaries were on hand? I found only one reference, but an excellent one.  It is an original Toronto Star caption: "The rainbow bridge at Niagara Falls was formally opened during the week-end. A rainbow made its appearance shortly afterward. Hoisting the Canadian flag is Hon. T. B. McQuesten; and on his LEFT are Dr. Norman V. Leslie of Hamilton and C. Elliston Kauymeyer; bridge manager." I wondered if it would have been the Prime Minister or Premier of Ontario as it was considered one of the most significant bridges of its time.  But that was a thought only. The Toronto Public Library archives has numerous historical pictures of construction HERE.  This picture makes everything look so tidy and neat, but it was a huge site, full of construction equipment as the second image shows better.

Abstract image today reminding me of the bridge structure.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca