COM: Glenelg Tramline Upgrade

[Xaragmata]

Saturday morning, the 26th of September, finds two heavy lifters placing a 75+ ton concrete beam on the new South Rd overpass.

Thanks BillD - tram services will be substituted with buses on the weekends of October 10/11, 17/18 & 24/25 for overpass works
- South Road buses will detour away from tram crossing on the 17th & 18th - probably for placing beams across South Rd (?).

http://www.adelaidemetro.com.au/routes/ ... _oct09.pdf

[BillD]

Here are some shots of the beams being put in position today (10th of October). The beams, each weighing around 55 tons were fabricated in Victoria and have been stockpiled at the Mitsubishi factory.

Each span is made up of five beams, one for the pedestrian/bike path and four to support the rails

I arrived soon after dawn and caught the first beam as it arrived. There was a lot of back and forward shuffling by the truck as it entered the worksite. The wheels at the rear end of the beam were self-powered and had all-wheel steering.





Here's the first beam (pedestrian / bicycle track) being lifted


This is the sixth beam


The workers were planning to have 15 in place today. At the rate they were going, this work will probably continue well into the night.

[jk1237]

thanks for the pics, I did ride down there this morning. The construction is so amazingly simple. Its like a lego set. I was thinking this was atleast a month or 2 behind schedule caus there was no construction, and then all of a sudden a few trucks arrive, and a bridge appears

[BillD]

Thanks JK1237. We've heard that trams will be on the bridge around December the 16th.

Here's another shot, time to move the cranes along to the next bay.

[jk1237]

oh one more thing, while riding past the line between Greenhill and Goodwood rds, quite a few workers installing centre poles for the overhead wires in the middle of the tracks, so looks like they are phasing out the stobies. There were already about 10 up about midday

[BillD]

End of day one working on the overpass beams. It turns out that they'd planned to mount 12 (which they did, finishing late in the afternoon).

[Briggzy_03]

Good effort Bill .

I can't believe this upgrade will be completed so quickly.

Will this + anzac underpass have much of an effect in regards to speeding up the travelling time? I don't drive down that way a lot so I don't know how big of a gap there will be between traffic lights.

[Ben]

Will this + anzac underpass have much of an effect in regards to speeding up the travelling time? I don't drive down that way a lot so I don't know how big of a gap there will be between traffic lights.

Unfortunatly no because there are traffic lights eithier sides of these developments. It's simply moving the bottlenecks not eliminating them.

[BillD]

Good effort Bill .
Will this + anzac underpass have much of an effect in regards to speeding up the travelling time? I don't drive down that way a lot so I don't know how big of a gap there will be between traffic lights.

Thanks Briggzy,
I agree with Ben here, there are traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing 300m South and the next intersection if you remain on South Rd is 1.3km North.
You have to think of the overpass as just another piece in a large amount of work that will go long into the furure before a traffic light-free run on South Rd will happen.

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While Adelaide's trams are off the track for three weekends, contractors are installing centre poles as part of the overhead replacement project.

There are crews working at a few locations - poles now being visible at multiple sites.

I'm not impressed with the centre poles. From a photographic perspective there will no longer be the opportunity to capture trams passing each other without poles getting in the way, but this rightfully wouldn't have come into the tendering process.

I also hope that they've calculated their clearances... the tamper scraping past the temporary poles on Glengyle Tce almost stopped tamping on part of the temorary diversion up track.

The first shot is between stops 1 & 2.


Stop 2 and poles feature in the second photo.

[Waewick]

Will this + anzac underpass have much of an effect in regards to speeding up the travelling time? I don't drive down that way a lot so I don't know how big of a gap there will be between traffic lights.

Unfortunatly no because there are traffic lights eithier sides of these developments. It's simply moving the bottlenecks not eliminating them.

which traffic lights are you talking about (just a question TBH )

[AG]

Will this + anzac underpass have much of an effect in regards to speeding up the travelling time? I don't drive down that way a lot so I don't know how big of a gap there will be between traffic lights.

Unfortunatly no because there are traffic lights eithier sides of these developments. It's simply moving the bottlenecks not eliminating them.

which traffic lights are you talking about (just a question TBH )

He'd be referring to the signals around Richmond Road and Everard Avenue at Marleston to the north and Castle Plaza to the south.

[DM8]

Only 300m south of the tramline is a pedestrian crossing, mainly for Black Forest Primary School.

And only 500m north of the underpass is a set of traffic lights at Everard/Barwell Avenue.

So the underpass and the tramline overpass combined basically mean no traffic lights for.... 1 kilometre.

[Wayno]

Only 300m south of the tramline is a pedestrian crossing, mainly for Black Forest Primary School.

Here's an example from Chatswood NSW where a pedestrian overpass and road-level crossing coexist. On the left is Chatswood Train Station, and on the right is Chatswood High School + suburbia. This setup dramatically reduces the traffic impact, and still provides an easy solution for the aged/disabled. win win.

The School mandates students use the overpass. Regular business commuters use the overpass as well. I used it twice a day for 5years when i lived at Chatswood West and worked in the CBD.

[Shuz]

Rode the trams today, saw the new poles in the median.

Don't like it one bit. They're visually distracting, fail to blend in with the surrounding environment, and if I have to put forth an actual reason - is more of a safety impediment, now that trams cannot see to the opposite side of the tracks from around 500m due to the 'line of sight' which the poles now obscure.

For those of you in the know; the poles they put up alongside the temporary tracks at the South Road Overpass are one-armed, dual-wired and stand adjacent the tracks, rather than in the middle. Why they couldn't have used these?

They could have very well effectively served the same purpose in "cost reduction" measures, which is part-reason why I believe they opted for the middle poles - as each would've replaced 2 poles on either side of the tracks, less maintenance, and improved ease-of-access to fix wiring.

[DM8]

Here's an example from Chatswood NSW where a pedestrian overpass and road-level crossing coexist. On the left is Chatswood Train Station, and on the right is Chatswood High School + suburbia. This setup dramatically reduces the traffic impact, and still provides an easy solution for the aged/disabled. win win.

Exactly! I lived in Perth for a couple of years, and pedestrian overpasses in the burbs are commonplace. But according to the FAQ for the tramline overpass on the DTEI website:

Q.32. Will the Black Forest pedestrian crossing be removed?

No - the department recognises that this crossing currently provides a safe facility for the Black Forest Primary School students and for all pedestrians who wish to cross South Road at that location. This crossing is outside the project scope and is not being considered as part of the project.

The department is working with the Black Forest Primary School under the Safe Routes to School Program to maximise safety to children on their journey to and from school.

.... looks like the pedestrian crossing is staying put.