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From the description I assumed we were talking a hotel in Russia until I saw "I-90". Holy poo poo.
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Dec 7, 2014 21:59
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Javid posted:From the description I assumed we were talking a hotel in Russia until I saw "I-90". Holy poo poo. Funny you should say that. I actually did stay at a hotel in Russia this summer I would describe as "earplugs mandatory". All I can say regarding that Massachusetts situation in Cichlidae's post is that I think freeways and interstates used to be a bit of a tourist attraction. At least in the UK I know I've seen documentaries (linked from this thread, even!) that showed people gathering to eat and relax overlooking them. Depending how old that hotel really is it might have been built during an equivalent era of novelty here in the US.
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Dec 7, 2014 22:05
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I think it was in Kansas or Oklahoma I went to a mcdonald's that was on top of a freeway. That's kinda neat, but a hotel is a whole other kind of bad idea.
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Dec 7, 2014 22:10
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Hedera Helix posted:Is space at that much of a premium, there? As a dude who runs a hotel in that area, no, absolutely not. That place is a shithole.
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Dec 7, 2014 22:26
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Javid posted:I think it was in Kansas or Oklahoma I went to a mcdonald's that was on top of a freeway. That's kinda neat, but a hotel is a whole other kind of bad idea. Oklahoma! It's on I-44 at Vinita. At one point it was the largest McDonald's in the world.
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Dec 7, 2014 22:52
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Javid posted:I think it was in Kansas or Oklahoma I went to a mcdonald's that was on top of a freeway. That's kinda neat, but a hotel is a whole other kind of bad idea. The Illinois Tollway oases (service plazas in any other state) are built the same way. You can sit and eat your greasy fast food and watch the traffic rush by underneath you.
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Dec 7, 2014 23:17
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Carbon dioxide posted:The reason for that shape is probably that there are a bunch of high-rise residential buildings right behind the barrier, the highest one being 60m tall. For the people in the top-floor apartments, the noise wouldn't be blocked by a lower wall. Along the A16 there's only some four-story tenements, but that does explain the curved soundwall I suppose. I also like the soundwalls with plants growing on then like along the A2. Seen them in Germany as well.
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Dec 8, 2014 00:17
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We also have this thing built across the A4: https://goo.gl/maps/7NDuf According to Wikipedia there's also a hotel there, but not in the overpass bit, I think that's just a bunch of highway restaurants. Probably better that way. It's in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like they needed the space. I think the idea is that people can walk across and be able to reach all of the restaurants on both sides of the highway.
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Dec 8, 2014 00:36
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Cichlidae posted:Staying there was TERRIBLE. I have no idea who decided to build a hotel on top of one of the region's busiest freeways, but there was nonstop rumbling from both trucks and the train stop in the basement. Not to mention that if the hotel ever needs renovations or repairs, they have to shut down I-90. I'm on super slow island internet right now and I knew without clicking the link that you were talking about the Crowne Plaza (née Sheraton), a familiar sight to me as I too used to live nearby. Don't forget the Shaw's (Formerly Star) supermarket a little while before it too. The Turnpike Authority, as part of the deal for building the Extension through the towns of Newton and Watertown, had to sell air rights over the turnpike to remediate land takings in those areas. Even though the Turnpike Extension was built on former B&A railroad mainline, there was enough land taking that went on that it really pissed off the well-to-do people in Newton. The Star Market was built to replace one that was destroyed during the Turnpike construction, while the Newton Corner buildings were the town trying to generate business. Of course, Newton Corner is a shithole for traffic for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with the hotel. Some reading material. http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2009/06/archives_newton_corners_traffi.html kefkafloyd fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 00:43
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Just keep in mind that for sound barriers, most of the sound comes from the wheels moving on the asphalt. That's why railways that aren't directly next to houses sometimes have these waist-high concrete barriers. As long as there's no direct line of sight from the house to the bottom of the wheels, most of the noise will be gone.
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Dec 8, 2014 00:55
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Dominus Vobiscum posted:The Illinois Tollway oases (service plazas in any other state) are built the same way. You can sit and eat your greasy fast food and watch the traffic rush by underneath you. I'm actually surprised this isn't more common, must be cheaper to have one building serving both sides of the highway.
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Dec 8, 2014 02:37
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There's no way it's cheaper to build a huge building over the highway than it is to build two crummy buildings on empty land in the midwest.
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Dec 8, 2014 02:42
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Chemmy posted:There's no way it's cheaper to build a huge building over the highway than it is to build two crummy buildings on empty land in the midwest. I was thinking in terms of staffing and upkeep. I'm sure those buildings are expected to last 50 years.
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Dec 8, 2014 02:59
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Kakairo posted:I'm actually surprised this isn't more common, must be cheaper to have one building serving both sides of the highway. It can't be. You have to spend a ton of money building something that can safely roof over the freeway. Not to mention, that none of the toll roads in the Northeast network proper do it, and they all have much more pressing land value issues. They'd rather obliterate a mile or so of already built roadway to clear space for ramps to a side area from the inner lanes: https://www.google.com/maps/search/...mKJNX03qbAw!2e0
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Dec 8, 2014 03:25
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Over here, highway rest stops usually have services on both sides. In some rare cases, one side has a big restaurant and there's a simple pedestrian bridge from the other side. That's probably easier to build than a complete floating restaurant.
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Dec 8, 2014 08:37
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Carbon dioxide posted:Over here, highway rest stops usually have services on both sides. In some rare cases, one side has a big restaurant and there's a simple pedestrian bridge from the other side. That's probably easier to build than a complete floating restaurant. Well really it's like either way you're building a pedestrian bridge (or tunnel). It's just whether or not you want to quadruple the expense and annoyance by also siting the rest of the building on top of the freeway.
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Dec 8, 2014 08:57
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Never forget Japan does some crazy poo poo too. Edit: Image for those too lazy to click (normally that's me) 
Choadmaster fucked around with this message at 11:05 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 11:01
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In Chongqing they built a monorail line through a building. 
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Dec 8, 2014 12:45
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Jeoh posted:In Chongqing they built a monorail line through a building. They even did it at Walt Disney World (Contemporary resort).  There are quite a few sections of various subway networks around the world that were originally above ground, but decked over for construction. Everything from tennis courts to 30+ floor highrises. For example, in Toronto, the TTC's Yonge/Line 1 Subway railbed embankment between Summerhill and St Clair was decked over about 20 years after it was constructed, creating this eerie underground cavern that you can see while in transit. Varance fucked around with this message at 13:22 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 12:52
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Jeoh posted:In Chongqing they built a monorail line through a building. Vancouver too. Though the train line was there first, so they've built an office building around the SkyTrain line.  
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Dec 8, 2014 22:58
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So according to ENR magazine, my project has just been rated  the biggest in the country. That's a hell of a thing to put on my résumé.And on a completely different note, check out the absolute shitstorm the Hartford Courant raised by mentioning that ConnDOT is going (slowly) to mile-based exit numbering: Story Comments (I still think they should be kilometer-based.)
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Dec 8, 2014 23:29
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So this happened overnight in LA: Block-sized apartment building burns down in the middle of the night for what I'm assuming is insurance fraud purposes. It happens to have burnt down at the intersection of two big freeways, the 110 and the 101. Considering it was hot enough to melt signs and crack windows in buildings hundreds of feet away, what sort of damage can this do to the highway infrastructure there? Is that intersection going to be hosed with surveying and repair work now? How do you determine whether something that large needs remediation after an event like this?
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Dec 9, 2014 01:19
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Depending on the heat yeah, the highway could possibly be in trouble. A fire like that happened next to a building that was under construction that was 100% concrete and they had to demo the concrete building as well because the fire could have compromised the reinforced concrete.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:44
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It's presumably not as bad as "tanker explodes on I-95 bridge, causing it to need replacement and a temporary bridge built in the interim," but there's definitely going to be some work to be done in that area.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:45
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whitey delenda est posted:So this happened overnight in LA: The steel will have to be replaced, as steel loses a tremendous amount of strength when heated. With concrete, it conveniently turns colors when it's overheated! Normal concrete is white or gray. Black concrete can be dusted off and work fine. But when it turns pink, then it needs to be replaced.
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Dec 9, 2014 02:53
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How does removing the steel work for prestressed concrete?
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Dec 9, 2014 07:38
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mamosodiumku posted:How does removing the steel work for prestressed concrete? This kills the bridge
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Dec 9, 2014 07:47
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Here's a cute little blog post I saw today: What Manhattan would have to look like if everyone drove instead of taking transit. E: It would also require parking equivalent to the entire surface area of the island.
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Dec 9, 2014 20:42
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Here's a cute little blog post I saw today: I don't know, having giant gently caress-off lasers on the hudson looks pretty awesome.
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Dec 9, 2014 22:56
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Funny traffic news (Dutch page): A journalist discovered that on many Dutch highways, the 66.6 km location marker is gone. When the responsible service was asked about this, they said that an unknown person keeps stealing them, so they have stopped replacing them or placed a sign with some other number at that location. Apparently there's some song on Youtube called "Location marker 666" in Dutch, and the journalist is wondering if this could be the reason for the disappearing signs.
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Dec 12, 2014 14:55
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That's amazing. Still, there are 35 location markers with that number according to my data. Probable more if you include provincial roads. Either way, they're probably not all gone yet
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Dec 12, 2014 15:15
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Carbon dioxide posted:Funny traffic news (Dutch page): Here in Colorado they changed the 420 mile marker on I70 to read 419.9 to keep away the thieves. 
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Dec 12, 2014 18:42
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"Who steals a mile marker, honestly!" I would start making the kilometer markers say 66.7 for the same reason as the 420 mile marker in CO.
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Dec 12, 2014 19:42
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Or just setup a souvenir shop at mile 420 and sell real actual state-issued Mile 420 signs for some huge markup?
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Dec 12, 2014 20:45
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RadioPassive posted:Or just setup a souvenir shop at mile 420 and sell real actual state-issued Mile 420 signs for some huge markup? Seriously. We can churn out huge brown memorial signs for no good reason, but the state can't figure out how to make a buck off bemused stoners?
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Dec 12, 2014 22:04
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Apologies if this one's already been mentioned. Got a question about this section of I-85 in North Carolina between Charlotte and Greensboro: https://goo.gl/maps/I4srD. Say you're going north on 85 around this area. There's not really much going on, until all of a sudden the northbound lanes cross under the southbound lanes, so that northbound is on the left and southbound is on the right. The two are then separated by woods. This goes on for a couple of miles, and there's even a rest stop with a memorial between the northbound and southbound lanes, accessible by both. The lanes then move back together, cross, and everything is normal again. Any ideas why it's configured this way?
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Dec 12, 2014 23:31
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A first look at the upcoming transit/cycling/anti-congestion funding referendum in Metro Vancouver: https://twitter.com/BoardofTrade/status/543120582401736705/photo/1 It'll be interesting to see how it goes. That looks like the Board of Trade is supportive, and I know quite a lot of other organisations are also in favour. It's also a bit sad that they dropped the idea of usage charging in favour of a sales tax increase.
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Dec 13, 2014 00:37
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D.N. Nation posted:Any ideas why it's configured this way? The 5 just north of Castaic, CA does the same. The southbound side cuts across to another mountain ridge the left for a while. I've always assumed its because the northbound side follows the original path and when they expanded the freeway they only had room on the other ridge along that section, and by some accident of geography it was easier to shunt the southbound side across to it. That's only speculation though; does anyone here know if that's accurate? In your case the area looks pretty flat and seems to have plenty of room, so it's even more mysterious.
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Dec 13, 2014 00:39
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D.N. Nation posted:Apologies if this one's already been mentioned. Got a question about this section of I-85 in North Carolina between Charlotte and Greensboro: https://goo.gl/maps/I4srD. Say you're going north on 85 around this area. There's not really much going on, until all of a sudden the northbound lanes cross under the southbound lanes, so that northbound is on the left and southbound is on the right. The two are then separated by woods. This goes on for a couple of miles, and there's even a rest stop with a memorial between the northbound and southbound lanes, accessible by both. The lanes then move back together, cross, and everything is normal again. I've always assumed, with that memorial at the rest stop they wanted it to be accessible to both directions, and having the them crossover was cheaper than having it on one side, and giving the other side some big exit/overpass.
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Dec 13, 2014 01:08
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Cichlidae posted:Seriously. We can churn out huge brown memorial signs for no good reason, but the state can't figure out how to make a buck off bemused stoners? We need to make 69, 420, etc vending machines that can be installed in highway rest areas.
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Dec 13, 2014 02:25
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