Can the West Main Bridge be replaced overnight?

As I have previously covered, the NCDOT and the City are planning on replacing the bridge that carries W. Main street over campus drive sometime next year. The original plan called for a year-long closure of the street but was later scaled down to six months following a neighborhood outcry. The City and the DOT celebrated the new accelerated schedule, touting is a win-win solution for the neighborhood and the city. And it is - considering that the other solution would have entailed a year-long closure of a major city street, choking traffic to both Ninth Street and Bright Leaf District.

So imagine my surprise when I read in the New York Times article (reprinted below) that the new technology used in Massachusetts allows small bridge replacements overnight. That's right - instead of six months, a prefabricated bridge very similar to the one over campus drive was replaced overnight with minimal disruption to traffic and surrounding communities. And it is not an astronomically more expensive way to do things, apparently, simply a different technology that could be just as cost-effective as the conventional method.

Current Campus Bridge

Overnight bridge replacement in Boston

Read more about this new insta-bridge technique after the break.

Widening of Erwin Road to Accommodate Hospital Expansion

The City and Duke University are cooperating to widen Erwin Road between the Eye Center and the Duke Hospital entrance to accommodate the addition of approximately one million square feet of hospital space following construction of the new cancer center and the Duke Medicine Pavilion.

Once the work is complete, there will be two additional turn lanes onto Fulton St. and new 6-foot sidewalks on both sides. The work is expected to be completed by the end of May.  A full description of the work, including the times when some of the lanes will be closed for construction, is reprinted after the break (courtesy of the Herald Sun).

From urban planning perspective, the idea of road widening is often controversial because of the "induced demand phenomenon" which postulates that building wider roads leads more people to drive on them, which, in turn, increases traffic and creates a vicious cycle of traffic congestion. An often-proposed solution to break this cycle is to increase availability of public transportation at the expense of private vehicles. For a thorough primer on the folly of mitigating traffic by widening roads read Traffic, an excellent book by Tom Vanderbilt, who is also a frequent contributor to Slate Magazine.  You can read his articles here.  Of particular interest -- and relevant to the current plans to add two extra left lanes to Erwin Rd -- is his excellent article about the folly of adding left lanes.

Bridge Construction over Main Street Delayed

As I have covered in previous posts, the area near the intersection of Main and Broad streets will be seeing a lot of construction soon: the water main replacement, repaving of Main Street (which will include adding bike lanes, finally), and the wholesale replacement of the section of Main Street that goes over Campus Drive, which connects Duke's East Campus to the rest of the university.

Soon-to-be replaced Campus Dr. Bridge

Today's Herald Sun reports that the bridge replacement has been pushed back almost a year and -- in even better news -- is now expected to last six months rather than twelve. This is unquestionably good news for then neighborhood, as it would minimize the ongoing disruption to the whole community without compromising infrastructure improvements that will need to be made.Read the whole article after the break.

More information on water main replacement

The city of Durham has posted additional information, including FAQs and a map (reprinted below), on the water main replacement that will be taking place along Ninth Street and West Main Street corridors. It looks like there will be significant disruptions along both streets but the work should be wrapped up by the end of the summer, at which point the DOT will close the W. Main to begin construction on the new bridge over Campus Drive.

Bracing for major road construction in the neighborhood

Today's Herald Sun has a good article describing a trifecta of road construction projects happening around Ninth Street Shopping Center and Duke's East Campus. By far the most destructive of three, promises to be the demolition of the bridge that carries Main Street over Campus Drive
View Larger Map

As I described previously, the work is likely to last for at least a year and will result in a complete closure of Main street. The detour will be through Durham Freeway, which is likely to cause considerable pain to residents trying to get to downtown and Bright Leaf square without having to get on the interstate. Before the work begins, however, the city will need to replace a major water main. The construction is slated to begin in the summer. On the bright side of things, DOT officials promise to repave the Main Street and narrow it from four lanes to three to allow bike lines on both sides. 

The Herald Sun article describing the full  impact of this and some other roadwork projects is reprinted after the break. 

Main Street over Campus Drive to Close

The N.C. Department of Transportation wants the road closed sometime next year so it can replace a bridge that carries Main Street over Campus Drive.

The project could make the section of Main from Buchanan Boulevard west to Swift Avenue off-limits to car, truck and bus traffic, officials said during a City Council work session on Thursday.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - To replace bridge DOT seeks Main Street closure