The new pedestrian-cyclist tunnel under Somerset Street is now complete except for waterproofing and filling in the hole above it.
Here are some shots taken from the top edge (Somerset street level) into the hole:
The above picture is looking north; the one below is a steeper angle showing the south portion:
In pictures on previous posts this week, I showed the holes the run through each tunnel segment. A threaded rod was inserted through the holes, from one end of the tunnel to the other, and then the city tightened a nut at each end, tensioning the pieces together. Here is a shot of City staff and contractors waterproofing a join in the rod as they feed it in through the holes:
Crews put one rod through each corner of the tunnel segments. Here is a piece fully put in:
And finally, the shots we have all been waiting for, the view through the tunnel:
I wonder why they couldn’t have poured the overpass around the tunnel? Why cut a hole and do it all after the fact?
The Somerset viaduct was built in about 1920. The bike tunnel is being added in 2011. Therefore, it was necessary to scoop out the dirt in the viaduct, cut holes in the side walls, and build the bike ped tunnel. The hole will be filled in,maybe next week, and the road repaved on top. The bike path itself may not open until fall 2012, provided it gets funded in next year’s city budget.
Oh I see. I thought the whole thing was new construction.
eric, it appears on the pictures that the tunnel is quite narrow, how wide do you estimate the tunnel is?
h.
I haven’t measured it, but it appears about 12′ high by 12′ wide. It is wider than a standard City of Ottawa bike path. It couldn’t be made any larger — economically — because that is the largest size precast box that can be made here. And it took the largest crane in Ottawa to move the 32 tons (each!) pieces and even then the crane strained to do it. The alternative – a poured in place tunnel – would have been much more expensive and closed the road for months.
Great stuff Eric!