I was fascinated by bridges as a kid, yet somehow managed to choose a liberal arts college without either an architecture or engineering program. Oops.
Anyway, the upshot is that I get excited when new bridges are built. Even small, functional ones like what CT Fastrac has planned for Flatbush Avenue. Here is the rendering of the bridge and bus station, and here is the site plan for the area. Work has been going on for a while now, with most of the effort focused on site prep and pounding steel beams into the ground. Below are pictures taken on September 13, 2012 from Newfield Ave, looking west across the tracks towards New Park Ave.
It looks to me, who we have already established has an untrained eye, that they are preparing to pour a foundation on the western side of the tracks. In the bottom picture you can see the pile driver that they have been using to pound the steel beams into the ground. It’s been interesting to watch; all of the short steel beams in the foreground started at least three times as tall. There is considerably more metal in the ground than showing above ground.
I’ll be following the project, and will perhaps even post some more photos once there’s more to see.
I drove by this site the other day while they were using the pile driver. I wonder what it’s doing to the plaster walls in the houses that are near this location?