It would be way too expensive, but the proposed overpass would need to resemble this helical one in Austin (or zig-zagging equivalent). This one goes over Town Lake, but you get the idea. Again, way too expensive. Not practical.

From Above:
http://tinyurl.com/austin-overpass-above

Street Level (wait for street view to appear):
http://tinyurl.com/austin-overpass-st...

Engineering
700 Main, Suite 201
Victoria, TX 77901
Phone: 361-485-3340
Fax: 361-485-3345

The Engineering Division functions as the City's in-house engineering consultant.

Duties of this division include:

* Miscellaneous Project Design (Streets and Drainage, Utilities, Parks)
* Engineering Consultant Contracts
* Supervision and Administration
* Capitol Improvement Design

Engineering Consultant Contracts. That seem to be all they do, what a sweet job,

Every time a bond project is approved, the city just has to hire a Engineering Consultant, what exactly do the in house engineers do?

$26k for this consultant, $35k for that one, WHY????

Grr Citizen, from the other thread...

Pedestrian overpasses and underpasses allow for the uninterrupted flow of pedestrian movement separate from the vehicle traffic. However, they should be a measure of last resort.
Such a facility must accommodate all persons, as required by the ADA.
Studies have shown that many pedestrians will not use an overpass or underpass if they can cross at street level in about the same amount of time or less.

It is usually more appropriate to install safe crossings that are accessible to all pedestrians. Grade separated facilities are extremely high-cost, and overpasses in particular are a visually intrusive measure.
Extensive ramping will accommodate wheelchairs and bicyclists, but results in long crossing distances and additional time that discourage use.

Estimated cost

$750,000 to $4 million, depending on site characteristics.

This site is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and maintained by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center within the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. http://www.walkinginfo.org/engineerin...

THAT is another argument citizen,the REA already moved their switching station and power lines when 463 was made a divided roadway.

Go ahead and drive east on Mockingbird, when you get to 463 what is right across the road in front of you?

Some serious mistakes have been made in planning, does VISD even talk to the city? or does the city even talk to VISD?

Much less the Texas Highway department.

What exactly is the so called city engineers and school board members problem. That they can not think things through?

Why do we even have city engineers? every time a project is proposed a separate engineering firm is hired as consultants.

Build the school, Hike and Bike trail, then when they realize something is wrong, they look to other entities to save their bacon.

ok, just aking sure we are all clear. But a general overpass as we are speaking of would be no wider then the trail its self. It just needs to be extended back on to its self aways.

I wasn't talking about a overpass of the road itself either, a pedestrian overpass to go over JS.

legion357, I am not talking about placing a overpass on JS. Take the trail over JS and ayou will have all the room you need to get it to 14'. Thats all I am saying. Now the city will need to raise the power lines there, but if you have noticed on JS they have been doing that will all the new galvanized power poles that have been going in up and down JS. I am not a engineer, but this is alot better than making JS go over the trail. Dont you think. Next time I will make myself a little more clear. Thanks Citizen.

Maybe Matt, I said I forgot lots of my algebra. There is a difference between a angle to level ground and a grade though.

If you have every drove through west Texas on interstate 10, there is a sign on the downhill side of a hill/ mountain, it says 6° grade.

For all practical purposes it seems like you are driving down a 45° angle,very steep.

Since the city said that they cannot divert the trail to the Ben Jordon intersection and back north on JS because the Hike and Bike has to be wider than normal sidewalks, how about this?

Since the new east hs is being built, increase the sidewalk width on the west side of JS to the Ben Jordon intersection,and yeah it will cost more, but build a extension of the H&B trail down Ben Jordon to were it crosses Ben Jordon, there is only one house on the north side of Ben Jordon in that area, then tie it into the rest of the H&B trail there.

That's what the city should have done in the first place.

I'm still wondering, it's been a long time since I used algebra, but as close as I can tell, and I might be wrong, (wheres the engineers at?), JS is about 125' wide, for a 2° grade to reach 14' would require about 74' of approach on each side, geez, it would be about the length of a football field.

OF course you can increase the grade 4° wouldn't cut the distance in half though, maybe by a third.

At any rate we are talking about having to, most likely, take some of the homeowners that live on the west side of JS back yards away to build a overpass.

sorry meent to cautious, No hard feelings.

jgfartman, do you have a better idea? 13'6 is the standard height of a tractor trailer. Now you do have some that are at 14'1 but that’s a set of high profile pups and you don’t see them here in VICTORIA. If you don’t want to pay for it MOVE THEN. I am normally a nice person, but don’t push the wrong buttons such as this one when it is in general a good idea for the residents and KIDS to go back and forth to school. So from now on be causes as to whom you criticize jgfartman.

I seem to remember seeing an estimate in the Advocate of the cost to the taxpayers of a 13'6" overpass. Anyone remember how much it was?

Took the words out of my mouth, Citizen.

Once again, the advocate is being SHORT SIGHTED, add a over pass to the trail at Stock Bauer with fencing on the side of it. Make the fencing 6ft high for safety and make sure the overpass is at least 13'6 for BIG trucks going up and down Stock Bauer. Also NO steps on the over pass so walker,Bikers and joggers can up and down it with NO problems. This will also be a GREAT side walk for the kids to get back and forth to school.

it should be kept closed because some stupid human might walk in front of a car and get run over like a dog!

Underpasses cost lots of money!