urbanfan

Interesting that the next spur outside of Va. Beach is the spur to the naval base. Watch the video and at 7:40 roughly they talk about the spur running from the terminus at the medical center to the base. So, looks like its going up hampton or colley, one or the other.

I think you're confusing several different components. The maintenance building is not the same as the administration building which will be built along with the apartments in Phase II. The maintenance building will be on the property across the street from the proposed phase II complex. If you look at the aerial view on google or something you see the wedge shaped property across the street that this facility will be going on. The administration will be built on the property between 16th and 17th street. The apartments will be built on the property between 14th and 16th, then directly across the street (Armistead) is the lot where the maintenance facility will be built. It is bounded by armistead, 18th street and church street. Pretty much where there maintenance facility is now, with the addition of some property I believe.

Considering this building is sitting on I don't know, 30 to 50 foot piles driven into the ground, I can say with confidence that this had nothing to do with a shift in the soil. More than likely, this was problem of not paying attention to the design process, which actually happens relatively easily since cad work has come on the scene. It's very easy to make mistakes in cad and I have found in my own experience that a lot of people don't tend to be precise with their building models, so things aren't always to scale as they should be which can create issues like we see here.

All connections and precast design are done by professional engineers. They have to document any changes in the field and calculations must be done. With that said, unless the engineer isn't paying attention or the developer isn't consulting the original engineers, there should be no problem. Let's also remember that not only are there structural engineers inspecting the work and connections, the city is there probably on a daily basis inspecting the work. It is mandated by state law. My guess is that some of the connections didn't line up quite right, so the developer went back to the precast engineer and asked for a change order. The engineer came out or hired someone to come out, look at the conditions in the field, and then designed a fix for the problem. Happens all the time in construction. We just finished a job that had several hundred change orders. However, it's a little more uncommon to see that happen in a pre-designed, prefabricated garage. They tend to be pretty straightforward.

Circuit City has only filed chapter 11, so it's more a reshuffling. Are they planning on shutting the store down on Independence? Never mind, I see the headlines now. Not good for Richmond business.

The bridge would not impact port or military traffic. It would be built tall enough to clear either type of ship. I'm sure that it would be a suspension bridge, unlike anything we have here at the moment. Much like the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in D.C. that just finished, except on a larger scale. Think, Golden Gate bridge.

I would be on board if they just built the 564 portion of the third crossing and didn't put all them extra tunnels and widened highways in that we don't need. Keep the 564 portion which gets the ports off of I-64 and focus on widening the HRBT which is the major artery when it comes to tourism. I like the bridge idea, it would give us a landmark bridge which this area does not have. However, once again, not going to happen with the Navy stationed here. Might as well scrap that one now.

Not necessarily. These light rail cars are capable of doing 65 mph unabated. Considering that this track is elevated and separated from most roads along the highway portion and factoring in that their is considerable distance between stops along the highway, it is very possible to match "normal speed limits". It won't be slower until it gets into the city area, then things slow down allot.

If you were running the project every one would have to stand in line for soup and bread because you would bankrupt the economy trying to build something that is ridiculously expensive. Maybe in the future, the technology will come down in price but as of now, not worth it.

I believe he means one lane in each direction, for a total of two lanes.

The skanska contract was not underbid and then found out to be over budget. The contract initailly was over budget period. Skanska could not do it for what the city budgeted. Not the other way around. Skanska rightfully bid the project to where they needed it and now the city will have to pitch in to make up for the money they didn't plan for.

LOL, that was about the only thing I got from there. Best sandwich hands down.

They are building different segments at the same time. You are correct that this is near harbor park and NSU. Work is currently already started on the new bridge towards newtown, and I believe work should be starting soon on the new bridge from fort norfolk area towards brambleton. By december work should be going or half done on all areas of the route.

If you go to HRT's web page and click on developments and go to the Tide's page, they have finally updated their photos. Great photos of the bridge ties being placed over Park Ave. They are starting to really pick up steam. Also some photos of the wetlands mitigation involved with the project (not as interesting). You can access the photos here.

Unfortunately, that happens when you do the same thing over and over. Never renovate, never change the menu. Especially in the competitive restaurant industry. On the bright side, El Pollo Loco is close to being finished. It is located at the Power Plant in Hampton, and probably about 70% done. Can't wait to get a taste of the fair. I know of several restaurants located in the new Town Center because our company designed the buildings. However, no forth coming information till an anouncement.

The FTA will overwhelmingly support the extension. When it was actually a part of the original project the FTA was already on the verge of approving the project until the Beach pulled out. The ridership number almost double when you run the line to the beach.

The line has already been set up for a hampton blvd. continuation. There are more historic buildings on colley than there are on Hampton blvd. Less uproar for a train going up hampton than colley. Are you kidding me, run a tram through the middle of ghent's pride and joy, not going to happen.

The line will go down Hampton Blvd. It's already set up for that. Hampton Blvd. is the only place where there is ability to widen the road. You can't do that down Colley. Buildings are right up on the road and alot of them are historic. Not so on Hampton Blvd.

Just one quick point, your numbers seem fair however, the idea that it would take 75 minutes is suspect. Almost all transit lines run rush hour express trains. More than likely this would be the case for workers at 6:00a.m. No since in stopping at stations that don't need to be stopped at.

?

I would normally agree with that sentiment. However, in this case the only view your blocking is of the discussting 1970's tunnel. This is probably actually the best type of screen wall we could put up to block that view.

It's a pretty common thing to have a survey of progress on the system before releasing money to the client. Standard procedure.