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MUP Tunnel

Old 10-25-14, 08:49 AM
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MUP Tunnel

At the risk of boring those of you who have, and have had for some time, infrastructure such as this, I would like to post pics of this little construction project.
This was a very controversial project from the beginning. Lots of folks opposed anything such as this. But, fortunately, the City Commission found it worthwhile and pursued it regardless of the naysayers.

The Greenway Trail started as 1.75 mi. of hardpack going through a wooded area and connected two parks in the city. It continues as a concrete MUP on top of our levee/floodwall to total 4.5 miles. That required crossing a state highway and a US highway. The state hwy crossing was no big deal as is was on flat ground with clear vision in both directions. They just did an at grade crossing with signage and road markings. The US hwy crossing was another matter. Law would not permit an at grade crossing because of a turn in the highway and the banking in the highway (would not comply with ADA regs). Reworking the highway or a bridge proved to be more expensive so, they elected to go with the tunnel. Here are a few pics and hopefully you all can see how this progressed.

The first two pics are from either side of the hwy. We have been able to use each segment for some time by riding on the grass, dirt and gravel to get around the construction.



The Corps of Engineers would not permit any alterations to the structure of the floodwall (another reason the bridge was expensive) so, they had to bring the trail down off of the levee and put the tunnel on the city side of the wall.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:02 AM
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MUP Tunnel (cont.)

The highway was cut through and the bed of the tunnel laid. The 52" precast tunnel was then set in place.


The wingwalls containing additional lighting and providing support for the floodwall were poured.


All the landscaping was finished and the ribbon cutting ceremony was Wed. Yesterday morning was the first time I got to use it going to work in the morning. When I came 'round the bend in the trail and could see the tunnel, lit up, was really neat.


This was a major step for our little town. There is already talk of extending the MUP to another downtown park. I'm seeing other bike commuters and that is great. Hopefully this will continue and there will be more support for additional infrastructure.
Sorry for the long post.
Ed
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Old 10-25-14, 09:18 AM
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That is the best looking bike tunnel I have seen.
We have a few decent ones in the East Bay here in Northern California, but I have not seen a beauty like yours.
Thanks for the DIY pictures, very interesting.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:31 AM
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That is super-cool, Ed! With your sequence of pictures, it's easy to see how and where the work was done.

(BTW, I've requested this be merged with your other thread -- probably just an oversight. )
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Old 10-25-14, 09:33 AM
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Cool project.

Word of warning:

Depending on your community, MUT underpass tunnels while nice infrastructure become defacto homeless shelters. Happened with one of the MUT intersection underpass tunnel projects here.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:34 AM
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Great looking tunnel but looks really narrow. Do you know how wide it is? What would it have cost to widen it a bit?

BTW, something that Europeans try to always do with tunnels is to design them so that you get up momentum going in to them, maintain much of it, and then use that momentum to get up the other side. So they'll often have the ramps on each side as close to the tunnel as possible and try to keep it as straight as possible from the top of one to the top of the other.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:50 AM
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That is nice. Let's hope they maintain it.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:59 AM
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That's a nice looking tunnel. Connecting the trails like that is a great thing, especially when it's on your way somewhere.
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Old 10-25-14, 09:59 AM
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It's nice to live in places where the goverment(s) will sign up for projects like this. Folsom does but I don't live there any more, Orangevale is technically unincorporated Sacramento county and they don't do much more than paint bike lanes on the wider roads. Be sure to make engine revving noises going through the tunnel, it should make a great echo.
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Old 10-25-14, 11:04 AM
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Thanks T-Scott and the mods for the merger. At the point I started the "cont", the screen would freeze when I tried to post the next pic. I thought it might have been too much "content" for a sgl post.?

Thanks for the compliments! We know there will be some problems to work around and trouble to look out for but, it's a step in the right direction.
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Old 10-25-14, 12:42 PM
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Hmm, what about drainage? Maybe I'm missing something, but that looks like it could be damp for a while after a decent rain...
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Old 10-25-14, 02:27 PM
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Hmm, what about drainage?
Yes the tunnel itself should be a little higher than the path on either side of it or water will puddle in the center of the tunnel.

The highway can certaily rise a little higher to pass over the new underpass .

They also put a low spot in the Levee dike with this thing? to make Flooding easier?

Last edited by fietsbob; 10-25-14 at 02:32 PM.
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Old 10-25-14, 03:09 PM
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@CrankyOne, it's the same width as the rest of the path, about 8'. @no1mad, that was the first question I asked at the meeting when this idea was brought up. There is a toe drain along the floodwall. The discharge is less than 1/8 mile from the tunnel. When the river gets above the discharge drain, they shut a valve in the discharge. If there is enough rain to justify, there a some large pumps that will pump what is collected over the wall, back to the river. That system has been in place for many years. The pic does not show the two drains that run all the way across the path at each end. They are approx 4" wide covered with a metal grate. It has very narrow openings so nothing to cause grief for a cyclist. The drains are connected to the toe drain system. So hopefully, this all works out! We will just have to see. @fietsbob, the third pic shows the path coming down off the floodwall. The tunnel is beside the levee. The highway crosses both.
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Old 10-27-14, 02:25 PM
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Originally Posted by fietsbob
Yes the tunnel itself should be a little higher than the path on either side of it or water will puddle in the center of the tunnel.

The highway can certaily rise a little higher to pass over the new underpass .

They also put a low spot in the Levee dike with this thing? to make Flooding easier?
The trail comes down off the levee & under the road and back up onto the levee?

- Andy
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