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Post by joshuanickel on Feb 18, 2013 21:13:10 GMT -8
From what I have heard, it is scheduled to close tonight. The city wanted it open today in case of any traffic from the holiday weekend. Unless something happens, it should be closed by tomorrow morning.
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Post by joshuanickel on Feb 18, 2013 21:17:34 GMT -8
Today, they were installing the rebar cage for the final column in the Olympic blvd. median. The next step is formwork and concrete. Then they can finish the falsework across Olympic.
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Post by rajacobs on Feb 18, 2013 23:29:34 GMT -8
Finally the forms are going up for the NW abutment of the Venice-Robertson bridge!
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Post by joshuanickel on Feb 19, 2013 10:27:32 GMT -8
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Post by joshuanickel on Feb 19, 2013 16:43:47 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Feb 21, 2013 21:41:15 GMT -8
I got back to scanning old Kodachromes, in this case from October 1998, for some more "before" photos of phase 2 (and phase 1, which I'll put here since that thread's gone dormant). I'll start with this one looking west from the Motor bridge, looking very much like walking into the forest. West from Military toward Sepulveda, the concrete plant, and the 405, when this track switch (I believe part of the original wye) was still there. Long shot west toward the Ballona Creek bridge. Early after the right-of-way was landscaped in the 1990s; the street on the right is Somerset. Looking west from 3rd Avenue, seeing more of the then-new landscaping. And the old median west of Vermont, looking west.
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Post by Gokhan on Feb 21, 2013 22:49:24 GMT -8
Hey, Darrell, believe it or not but these pictures are now rather retro and they no longer belong to the construction thread but the historical-pictures thread. It would be great if you could post them there.
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Post by Gokhan on Feb 22, 2013 17:24:12 GMT -8
It looks like there is considerable progress on the relocation of overhead utilities at Venice Blvd. You can see in this picture the thick insulated cables coming out of the underground conduit and coming up the pole. The cables are waiting to be connected to the overhead high-voltage wires. The other conduit is probably for another group of high-voltage wires. There seem to be four groups of three-phase wires. In addition to the high-voltage wires, there are low-voltage/fiber cables by seven telecoms, which will also be relocated into a common underground conduit. Meanwhile, they are pouring concrete for the bridge abutment. There will also be a median column and a column at the southwest corner of the intersection.
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Post by darrell on Feb 24, 2013 13:17:48 GMT -8
Dwight's news today:
Expo Gave the Santa Monica Fire Dept the Use of 430 Colorado Ave for Live fire Drills and Training. This Building will be razed Starting Feb 26th to make room fro the Expo Line Station at 4th & Colorado
Work to start the 4th and Colorado is starting this will be the back-filling and leveling of the grade to match the grade at 5th and Colorado
Starting Monday Feb. 25th the MSE Wall Panels from the West Centenella Abutment Bent-2 will be started to bring the grade down to the Right of way leading west into and Past the shops and Yards
Bent-1 at Sawtelle for the Sawtelle & Pico Bridge will have the CID holes for the support column, started on Monday Feb. 25th The CID are Done for Bent (2 & 6) and the Wire Re-Bar cages are up and ready for form work at Bents (3-4-5) Once the last column is pored at Olympic this Wend the 27th then the form will arrive at Pico by that time there should be Also Bents 2&6 Ready and all 5 smaller Bents should be ready to pored and Cast
Also starting the week of Feb 25th the drilling of the 4 (96”) columns at or near Pico Blvd should be starting, look out for street and Road closures
With a slight delay of a week due to LA-DOT the Falsework Installation for Sepulveda Bridge will start
As the Falsework is 2/3 of the way across Cloverfield and Olympic the wood forms are in place and the re-Bar support cages are taking Shape
LADWP has the new Power poles now placed East and West of the ROW on Venice Boulevard and has started pulling wires and soon will be cutting over and removing the overhead ones
Now that the work at the junction is done the ride is much soother track-3 crossing track-2 and joining track-1, the sped restriction of 5mph remain in place till the CPUC signs off and give autorotation to return to regular speeds
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Post by bzcat on Feb 25, 2013 11:05:56 GMT -8
Saw them working on utility relocation yesterday (Sunday!) morning at Venice/Robertson. Must have been really expensive overtime...
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Post by Gokhan on Feb 28, 2013 11:53:24 GMT -8
I noticed that some of the existing overhead HV lines at Venice/Robertson have already been disconnected. It looks like, in a few months, the overhead wires will be gone.
Meanwhile, they are working on the abutment there, which should be finished in about a month or less. They haven't started on the two columns yet.
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Post by bzcat on Feb 28, 2013 12:22:53 GMT -8
So looks like the Venice bridge won't be the one holding up the opening of Phase II.
Fingers crossed...
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Post by Gokhan on Feb 28, 2013 13:53:21 GMT -8
Still waiting for the CPUC approval of the rail crossings...
The other issue is the literally only a-couple-of-square-feet take-off from the freeway right-of-way for the required widening of the west abutment of the Motor Avenue bridge is taking many months to be approved by Caltrans.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 1, 2013 15:29:23 GMT -8
They are going to start building the two columns for the Venice Boulevard bridge in a few weeks. The first step is to remove the trees at the southwest corner where one of the columns is going to go and put K rails: Construction notice
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Post by bobdavis on Mar 1, 2013 17:42:05 GMT -8
I've noticed DWP crews working along Venice Blvd near the Expo overpass site while heading to Culver City to see musical events at the Cinema Bar--this is around 9PM.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 1, 2013 22:07:33 GMT -8
I've noticed DWP crews working along Venice Blvd near the Expo overpass site while heading to Culver City to see musical events at the Cinema Bar--this is around 9PM. Certainly, DWP and Edison have been constantly working on connecting the underground feeder cables to the four different groups of overhead lines. Some of the overhead lines have already been disconnected. I expect them to be completely gone in about a month. I don't know when the lower-hanging communication cables, owned by seven different companies, will be relocated.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 4, 2013 10:20:19 GMT -8
Good news! All overhead high-voltage lines at Venice/Robertson are gone now except for some orphaned lines, which should be removed anytime.
However, the low-hanging communication cables owned by seven different companies are still there. They will be relocated into a single, shared underground conduit.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 4, 2013 11:52:58 GMT -8
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Mar 4, 2013 18:20:34 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Mar 4, 2013 22:41:07 GMT -8
New photos this afternoon: Right-of-way grading east of 17th, including the beginning of OCS pole footings! Columns between Sawtelle and Pico, including my first photo of the rebar slab over the 5 x 5 CIDH piles before the column rebar cage is added (below). The abutment west of Pico is silhouetted - along with some poles in the way of the bridge. The other abutment, east of Sawtelle, isn't there yet. Sepulveda falsework, including the first arched sections of Phase 2 (detail below). Note the arched steel, unlike Phase 1 falsework, and that it appears the bridge will arched its full width, vs. the separate higher bridge that supports the Phase 1 station platforms.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Mar 8, 2013 20:18:44 GMT -8
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Post by darrell on Mar 9, 2013 0:41:32 GMT -8
Columns between Sawtelle and Pico, including my first photo of the rebar slab over the 5 x 5 CIDH piles before the column rebar cage is added (below). Here's an update today, four days later, with the rebar column set on the lower grid and an upper rebar grid added through the column and frequently tied to the lower. That's one big concrete cap - covering 25 CIDH piles - to support the column! Here's the larger view. And here's the beginning of the abutment on the east side of Sawtelle, also a "before" photo of the west side of the I-405 aerial structure before the Expo bridge is built.
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Post by darrell on Mar 9, 2013 0:55:18 GMT -8
It was a beautiful day for photography mid-today, with a blue sky gap between rain clouds! Here are some more photos. The building at 5th and Colorado is almost gone. See Dwight's Flickr for more of its demolition. Looking west at the remaining columns crossing Olympic. You can see the beginning of falsework supports in front of the far abutment. Detail of falsework on a column on the south side of Olympic. OCS pole footings are in place between 26th and Stewart / Olympic and Bergamot Station. Looking west at Bundy, zoomed in below. (These are over the parapet of the roof parking deck at Bed Bath and Beyond on Olympic.) Looking east from the same spot. Yes, that is downtown L.A.! And the sound wall columns east of Barrington.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on Mar 9, 2013 3:25:32 GMT -8
And the sound wall columns east of Barrington. Darrell, note the rather elaborate structure (above) to hold crossing warning lamps and bells is still standing in your photo above - and was not removed during demolition. I looked at this once up close and it seemed in very good shape - completely serviceable. Do you (or anyone else) know if they might be planning to reuse it? Due to the rather narrow street and short block there, it may be that the extreme height of the signal was/is required by DOT regulations. It would be another interesting little bit of former rail service to remain if so.
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Post by RMoses on Mar 9, 2013 9:23:40 GMT -8
Columns between Sawtelle and Pico, including my first photo of the rebar slab over the 5 x 5 CIDH piles before the column rebar cage is added (below). Here's an update today, four days later, with the rebar column set on the lower grid and an upper rebar grid added through the column and frequently tied to the lower. That's one big concrete cap - covering 25 CIDH piles - to support the column! Here's the larger view. And here's the beginning of the abutment on the east side of Sawtelle, also a "before" photo of the west side of the I-405 aerial structure before the Expo bridge is built. Regarding the Sawtelle crossing, are they planning to lower the bridge in place after excavating the road.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 9, 2013 13:18:11 GMT -8
And the sound wall columns east of Barrington. Darrell, note the rather elaborate structure (above) to hold crossing warning lamps and bells is still standing in your photo above - and was not removed during demolition. I looked at this once up close and it seemed in very good shape - completely serviceable. Do you (or anyone else) know if they might be planning to reuse it? Due to the rather narrow street and short block there, it may be that the extreme height of the signal was/is required by DOT regulations. It would be another interesting little bit of former rail service to remain if so. No, these are critical safety equipment and they will all be replaced by state-of-the-art electronics and super-bright LED lamps. I believe the old equipment will be removed in the next phase of the construction in 2014, during which they will do street reconstruction, traffic signals, and train-control systems. Yes, it's sad to see the old stuff go but unfortunately they need to make way to the modern system.
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Post by Gokhan on Mar 9, 2013 13:21:07 GMT -8
Great pictures, Darrell! I noticed how little clearance there is between the soffit of the 405 bridge and the top of the abutment (rebars). It looks like the trains won't be able to fit in between but apparently it's only an illusion.
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Post by darrell on Mar 9, 2013 14:59:02 GMT -8
Great pictures, Darrell! I noticed how little clearance there is between the soffit of the 405 bridge and the top of the abutment (rebars). It looks like the trains won't be able to fit in between but apparently it's only an illusion. (Some days are inspiring to go out and photograph. Yesterday was one of those for me, and I couldn't wait to find what I got! And I only saw downtown L.A. in the Bundy photo once it was on my computer.) Remember this 5/11/12 Skanska image and profile diagram? And RMoses, I believe they don't have to lower Sawtelle like the Final EIR envisioned, probably due to this through-girder bridge design.
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Post by bzcat on Mar 11, 2013 10:12:04 GMT -8
That's going to be quite a roller coaster ride between Sepulveda and Sawtelle! Good thing the train will come to a complete stop at the station so people won't fly off their seats
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Post by bobdavis on Mar 11, 2013 23:02:45 GMT -8
Thanks for the progress photos. Looks like both Expo 2 and Gold 2A are going "run 8". And watch in the next few months for photos from the Perris Valley Metrolink line in the Metrolink section--looks like that is finally heading for major construction.
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