Cedar Point Announces New Water Ride for 2010 Season
Well, for one thing, transporting fully-fabbed flume pieces would be more costly. They'd be building forms somewhere, bringing concrete trucks in to fill said forms, then removing the pieces and loading them onto a truck. Keep in mind that these would be HEAVY, and thus costly to move (not to mention that every time those big concrete pieces are loaded, moved and unloaded, you risk destroying them).
Once the pieces arrived on-site, they'd be unloaded and put into place. Now, they'd have to adhere the various sections both to one another, and to the slab they'd rest on. So, they'd still need to bring in more concrete to fill in the seams (and hope they don't leak). And they'd have to ensure each section was properly aligned with the others, and that each section is level, etc.
By simply moving this entire process to the job site, they remove almost every complication above, and perhaps several others that I'm overlooking.
One thing I've noticed is that they're re-using many/all of the forms. For the final splashdown, they first formed & poured the right-hand wall (from the rider's perspective), then removed the forms and did the same to the left-hand wall. Right there, they've cut their form costs in half. And I think the same strategy is being applied to the base for each lift.
Brandon
Does anyone know what the building being constructed is in the top right corner of the webcam?
Cedar Point X
Can't Wait!!!
Kevinj said:
Looks like the fog machines from H-weekends accidentally got left on last night.
It made all us Screamsters want to go thru our neighborhoods scaring people with all the fog, it was a good sight.
11 years.
The steel has got to be around 45 days late now. Hopefully other projects are offsetting this by being completed in lieu of the steel rising.
I've nearly completed my "Let Rapids Rise!" picket sign :)
When you can't do one part of the project, move on to another that can be done instead of waiting. I think that's how that would go. :)
-Adam G- The OG Dragster nut
According to the recent on-point entry from Tony & Tyler, they're going to start erecting some steel next week. Good news! :)
Looks like the "yellow" shapes next to where the river would be are supports for the lines/exit path.
I'm not certain, but it appears they're getting ready to lift some steel (on the island, near the first drop), though I'm not sure how much we'll be able to see from the web cam.
Brandon
Wow, with the announcement steel was going up early this week and the big machinery I wasn't sure what was going to happen, I thought they were going to play some basketball, thanks for clarifying DJ!
They've announced they were going to erect steel three times, but only now have they actually organized the heavy equipment to do so. And I thought people might be interested.
Brandon
^^^^And i just thought that those were for the bodies of Jimmy Hoffa & Associates. My bad..... ;)
^I guess we thought wrong... :(
On a different note, I love how quickly they are forming the station area, looks like someone finally motivated thse guys, although the work pace since January 1 seems to have increased dramatically. Also, on the island, I know that everyone can see the big crane, and I also noticed that they put a large amount of gravel on the ground. Just an educated guess, but maybe the land in the island isn't stable enough to hold a heavy crane?
I also would like to know where I can get one of those nifty concrete trucks. I'd love to have them come out to my house an re-do my driveway, from the street! :)
With the amount of precipitation this time of year and the freezing/rethawing of the ground, I would assume it would be easy for any heavy equipment to get stuck on the island, thus the need for gravel.
Its just a pumper truck....most large concrete providers have one or two.
Who cares about steel going up anyway when you can watch concrete setting! :)
Nick
The gravel (which has a weed barrier type fabric beneath it) provides a more stable ground with which to distribute the weight of the crane and its load. As you can probably see, the entire area is quite wet, and the stabilizers on the crane could sink in that kind of muck. And if you're in the middle of bolting together a couple supports, the last thing you want is for the crane to suddenly sink an inch or two. A situation like that could easily get someone hurt, or worse.
I should add that, at least according to the renderings, that gravel path looks like it will be permanent.
Brandon
^I didn't even realize that. Looks like it is an access road on the island, but then again, how would service crews get to it without the mud bridges? Oh yea, just like everyone else, stop Millennium Force on the second overbank, get off, mainenance STR, then get back on MF and enjoy the rest of the ride!
DJ, thanks a lot for the description on what it is actually used for in tehcnical terms. (you too tennessee). Its kind of confusing, being a kid and just watching all these different things unfold at one time. I'm glad I have this site to sort everything out.
Just clicked in my head that it is SUPER mucky/muddy/terrible for the ground here in Cleveland. I can imagine it must be much worse out in Sandusky.
RideWarrior18 said:
...how would service crews get to it without the mud bridges?
They can access the island via the temporary/movable bridge that you can see beyond MF's hills.
Brandon
Steel is now on the work site at 1:55 PM. Looks like we could start seeing vertical construction any day now.
R.I.P. Mr. Scott
New Shoot the Rapids phots up on Facebook. Pretty cool!
EDIT: ^The guys say that everything is in place, it should start to go up tomorrow.
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