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Showing posts from June, 2022

Lynchburg, VA's College Lake Dam Removal Project Approaches Significant Milestone

  It's not often that you hear about the planned removal of a dam in an urban area, but that's exactly the kind of project that the independent city of Lynchburg, VA has embarked on. The city and the University of Lynchburg are nearing the midway point of a lengthy project intended to reimagine the Blackwater Creek watershed in the area of the nearby University, while also replacing a structurally-problematic earthen dam and creating a newer, safer alignment for the local highway that currently crosses it. The existing College Lake Dam was built in 1934 and impounds Blackwater Creek to form College Lake, which has a surface area of about 17 acres along the western periphery of the University campus. The dam additionally serves as the embankment that carries Lakeside Drive (US Route 221) across College Lake and the Blackwater Creek. The dam itself was built of compacted clay and stands 35 ft tall and is about 300 ft long. At the east end of the dam is a spillway for Blackwater C

Florenceville Bridge - Florenceville-Bristol, New Brunswick

  The Florenceville Bridge is a combination of a four steel truss spans and a Howe truss designed covered bridge that crosses the Saint John River in Florenceville-Bristol , New Brunswick, which is also known as the French Fry Capital of the World due to its association with the McCain Foods company. The covered bridge portion of the bridge is 154 feet (roughly 47 meters) long and links the eastern and western shores of Florenceville. But when you account for the four steel truss spans, the length of the bridge is closer to 1000 feet. The original bridge was built by Albert Brewer, the same builder who constructed the Hartland Covered Bridge just downstream along the Saint John River. Prior to the construction of the original bridge in 1885, movement of people and goods between the east and west sides of Florenceville were dependent on ferry travel. The first post office and the commercial section of the village were situated on the west side of the river, but over time, the town

Kingston, NY's New Roundabout Intersection Gets High Marks from Travelers

  In what turned out to be a $12 million investment from the New York State Department of Transportation and the City of Kingston, NY, the four-way intersection connecting Broadway, Albany Avenue, and Interstate 587 was transformed into a much more efficient transfer point for traffic traversing western Kingston in all directions. The original four-way intersection here dated to the 1950s and its traffic signals were notoriously inefficient. Additionally, safe passage for pedestrians and other non-motorized traffic was no guarantee as those movements were not safely accounted for in the original design. Above: The new Albany Avenue/Broadway Roundabout project increases efficiency of traffic movements across west Kingston while also improving motorist & pedestrian safety at one of the city's busiest intersections. Construction of this $12 million project began in early 2020 and persevered throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. Substantial completion status was attained at the end of