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Post by Gokhan on Jun 4, 2014 11:16:40 GMT -8
Apparently this is only temporary and the MK IV monster that terrorizes you will come shoveling the ballast and align the ties vertically and horizontally. Little known fact: the MK IV or Mark 4 got its name for what it can do to your psyche, that is, leave a MARK 4 (ever); this, according to its creator Mark Ivy. You can look it up. You're lucky they didn't bring Mark VI: www.harscorail.com/equipment/surfacing.html
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 5, 2014 11:03:34 GMT -8
More rebar.
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Post by benh57 on Jun 8, 2014 15:03:18 GMT -8
That pole in the middle of the rails is gonna slow down the line a tad.
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Post by joshuanickel on Jun 8, 2014 15:42:50 GMT -8
That pole in the middle of the rails is gonna slow down the line a tad. That pole was there to hold the end of the OCS wire. It will be removed and the wire strung from new poles along the emergency walkway.
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 9, 2014 10:22:45 GMT -8
You can see both the permanent and temporary pole in the photo below. They will close the line during some weekend in order to rewire the OCS and remove the track bumper. There has been little progress east of Barrington Ave: West of Barrington Ave is ready for tracks: Old grade-crossing barriers from the Pacific Electric / Southern Pacific era at Barrington Ave: They are still working: OCS Pole and mounting hardware (nuts) at Palms Park Pedestrian Bridge: Tracks are completely finished in the Northvale Road Trench. Looking northwest: Looking southeast: Kisses:
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 10, 2014 10:22:43 GMT -8
Self-powered flatcar train just west of Bagley Avenue: Ballast car at work:
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Post by roadtrainer on Jun 10, 2014 10:31:16 GMT -8
Love those Kitties!
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Post by metrocenter on Jun 10, 2014 13:28:11 GMT -8
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Post by metrocenter on Jun 10, 2014 13:37:36 GMT -8
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Post by culvercitylocke on Jun 10, 2014 14:39:05 GMT -8
I hate that tight circle Eastbound 10 to northbound La Cienega offramp, but at least those sorts of terrible interchanges will be demolished and rebuilt if they add an HOV lane to the 10, ala the Wilshire rebuild on the 405. The rebuild of that area is going to be incredibly complex to fit in an HOV lane, La Cienega, Fairfax, Venice and Washington all criscross the 10 within a few hundred feet of each other, and for whatever bizarre reason, they tried to fit on-and-off ramps all over the place. It'll be even nuttier and more impossible with an added lane taking away width from the offramp areas on top of rebuilding for modern capacity/storage requirements. You can't keep the la cienega circle offramp because it's a damned dangerous offramp as it is, with it's insanely tight radius and horrible potential for wrecks merging-while-decelerating into the accelerating on ramp traffic. You can't just use the southbound la cienega offramp and have a traffic light feed traffic northbound because Venice Blvd/La Cienega intersection is less than 20 feet from the existing southbound offramp, and traffic would never clear even with the finest achievement of signal sync ever achieved by man. You probably can't do a flyover for the northbound la cienega offramp because the hospital is half a block on the other side of the freeway on the northbound side, and there isn't any room for the flyover to descend to street level.
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Post by darrell on Jun 10, 2014 22:26:45 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Jun 10, 2014 22:38:13 GMT -8
More construction progress in West L.A. this afternoon:
Pico bridge with falsework down
Dual straddle bents
Looking east of the Overland substation; here's a "before" photo at about the same place on this photogenic curve:
Here are north and south of the pedestrian bridge, to compliment Gokhan's new photos. Above looks to be a transition between catenary sections.
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 11, 2014 9:09:35 GMT -8
Thanks for the pics, Darrell. Only six more months to go before the majority of construction (save some electrical work) is finished in December!
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 11, 2014 9:13:10 GMT -8
Love those Kitties! Who could say no to this inviting face? Or this gazing and smiling face:
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Post by darrell on Jun 11, 2014 10:23:47 GMT -8
Awww! (I grew up with cats, including Tiger and Gray Cat rather like these two.)
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Post by joshuanickel on Jun 11, 2014 13:03:16 GMT -8
Following the Completion of Military on the 21st, the crew will move on to 26th Street in Santa Monica:
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Post by bzcat on Jun 11, 2014 15:43:03 GMT -8
Skanska was doing something at the Overland crossing this morning as they closed one lane in each direction and were digging up something - I checked to see that it was Skanska crew doing the work so definitely something Expo related, not the sewer relocation project that is also happening at the same time.
Also, tree massacre is starting on Overland and Westwood to make way for street widening.
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Post by John Ryan on Jun 11, 2014 21:10:09 GMT -8
Skanska was doing something at the Overland crossing this morning as they closed one lane in each direction and were digging up something - I checked to see that it was Skanska crew doing the work so definitely something Expo related, not the sewer relocation project that is also happening at the same time. Also, tree massacre is starting on Overland and Westwood to make way for street widening. Will all the trees be cut down?
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Jun 11, 2014 22:27:40 GMT -8
I think all the trees along Overland and Westwood that will be cut down already have been cut down. Utilities have been moved too. All that remains to be relocated above ground are the street lights. Presently the crews appear to be doing work for the new curb face at the crossings. It seems they were saving this activity until school let out. LADOT will be handing the moving of all the other curb faces, I believe. Gotta say (again) while it's really nice to have the Expo Line in the neighborhood and I don't doubt it's value for the city it really SUCKS that in order to have it Overland Avenue must become a six lane highway style road. It's a rotten solution.
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Post by culvercitylocke on Jun 12, 2014 8:31:59 GMT -8
I think all the trees along Overland and Westwood that will be cut down already have been cut down. Utilities have been moved too. All that remains to be relocated above ground are the street lights. Presently the crews appear to be doing work for the new curb face at the crossings. It seems they were saving this activity until school let out. LADOT will be handing the moving of all the other curb faces, I believe. Gotta say (again) while it's really nice to have the Expo Line in the neighborhood and I don't doubt it's value for the city it really SUCKS that in order to have it Overland Avenue must become a six lane highway style road. It's a rotten solution. fronn, you'll probably enjoy this blog: www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/11/22/confessions-of-a-recovering-engineer.html
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 12, 2014 8:32:30 GMT -8
It looks like the Venice Boulevard Ramp is now finished, with the walkway, which also contains the conduits, cast. They haven't done the junction to the bridge yet but perhaps that will be done after the tracks are installed. Meanwhile, they've just started right-of-way grading east of Bagley Avenue and when that's finished, they can install the tracks all the way to the Culver City Station by the end of July:
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Jun 12, 2014 20:03:58 GMT -8
I think all the trees along Overland and Westwood that will be cut down already have been cut down. Utilities have been moved too. All that remains to be relocated above ground are the street lights. Presently the crews appear to be doing work for the new curb face at the crossings. It seems they were saving this activity until school let out. LADOT will be handing the moving of all the other curb faces, I believe. Gotta say (again) while it's really nice to have the Expo Line in the neighborhood and I don't doubt it's value for the city it really SUCKS that in order to have it Overland Avenue must become a six lane highway style road. It's a rotten solution. fronn, you'll probably enjoy this blog: www.strongtowns.org/journal/2010/11/22/confessions-of-a-recovering-engineer.htmlGee thanks.. I just went from sick to sicker.
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Post by darrell on Jun 16, 2014 14:25:17 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Jun 17, 2014 13:06:25 GMT -8
Expo Line Fan just posted this photo of the first crossing gates being installed at Westwood Blvd.: Also see his new series of plans and renderings of the Operations and Maintenance facility, starting here.
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Post by tramfan on Jun 18, 2014 19:45:46 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Jun 18, 2014 22:42:42 GMT -8
Crossing gate mechanisms are in place at all four corners of Westwood and on the east side of Overland - below, looking photogenic at night against the background of Century City. Looks like a pedestrian gate to the right of the main gate. At Military one track is in and the other has some of its ties down. Remember the big hump where Military went over the old tracks? The new tracks look a lot flatter.
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Post by darrell on Jun 20, 2014 9:59:36 GMT -8
See Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's blog post this week " A stowaway on Expo 2" - with video he shot riding a high-rail truck from Bagley to Military - on touring the phase 2 construction!
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f ron
Full Member
Posts: 222
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Post by f ron on Jun 20, 2014 10:16:56 GMT -8
See Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's blog post this week " A stowaway on Expo 2" - with video he shot riding a high-rail truck from Bagley to Military - on touring the phase 2 construction! Neat! Worth noting that Zev is calling it for a 2016 opening. Who's got the Jan-March 2016 slot on the poll?
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Post by Gokhan on Jun 20, 2014 12:44:22 GMT -8
Darn, a little better smartphone camera and camera work and slower video speed would have been appreciated! That's why he needs to leave stuff like this to who are good at it. It looks like direct-fixation track doesn't start until near the tunnel and westbound and eastbound tracks are different. Can't see much from the Edison-quality video though.
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Post by tramfan on Jun 20, 2014 12:50:03 GMT -8
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