Valravn Goes Vertical--Construction Starts

deeturnerjr72 said:

What is going in where they are digging the concrete up near the skyride station? It looks like there isnt going to be much walking room left through there. Is the coaster coming that far out into the existing midway?

Pouring footer for the last turn before the airtime hill.

Guess it just looks closer than it really is on the camera. Traffic gets pretty congested through there after the shows are finished at night.

I think some of that is also utility work.

Looks like it is footers. Guess that wont be too obstructive to the midway because it will just be supports you can walk around.

The footers they're working on now won't be in the midway. Presumably because it's a low zone there:

I was referring to what would be the third footer if you are going from bottom to top of that pic. Its actually out into what would be the walking area right now, but if you extend the midway from the front of the park coming passed the skyride station the footers arent going to be protruding. It was just looking weird to me before I looked closer to the renderings and complared them to the live picture on the camera.

Gotcha. Yeah, the traffic through there should be interesting, given how the midway will be shrunk near Skyride's station as you can see in my incredibly lifelike rendering below. Of course, the large amount of traffic through that area may have in the past been partially a result of induced demand. In that case, traffic down the Celebration Plaza midway might actually improve. In other words, maybe the change will funnel folks toward the TTD midway rather than Celebration Plaza.

Yeh, itll funnel it a little earlier than it is right now. Maybe like you said it will force traffic around in front of the diner into that area. Be interesting to see how it will flow after luminosity.

A problem I see is the line for those food stands obstructing the flow through there.

Oh yeh, I forgot the skyride has the food stands in there. Yeh, if those people are lined up itll be a nightmare getting through there for sure. Wonder if they are going to maybe just have the food service on the opposite side?

Idea: go around the other side

Hmm, never though about that.....

Insert obligatory "If they would just tear down Cedars and move the road they could build a new midway" post here.

GDUBS said:

Insert obligatory "If they would just tear down Cedars and move the road they could build a new midway" post here.

That would be great, but then they would have to shove Valravn over to make it wider :( LOL!

Are the second set of lifthill supports just standing there with only the footers holding them? If they are thats some strong grip those footers have!

Sort of. The footings (which I'm told is the correct term) for the taller supports can only hold so much load. Until they connect the track to the support, they have cables attached near the top that stabilize the support until that time. Look in the image below and you can see the cables.

I suspect the footings for the taller supports can hold a tremendous load with or without the track. What the large support sans track cannot support is a lateral load. Hence temporary cable support.

It's also worth noting that there are other factors that determine how much "load" a single footing can hold. I think one factor is type of cement that's used. However, I have no clue if they use different types based on load with regards to coaster construction.

But I imagine the biggest contender is the size and depth of the base (aka) what you can't see under the ground. It's been said before but when CP does a steel coaster, the concrete base for all footings are wider than normal (and not as deep) on account of the sand and water table. The exceptions being rides like Dragster, Slingshot, Power Tower, etc that require a much deeper base. And a lot of the time, they will make one HUGE base that will have multiple footings for various footers.

Thanks for the pic thats a nice shot. It really shows the enormity of those beams. I figured there was something supporting the lateral load on the supports, but couldnt really see anything on the camera. Yes, those footings are really wide too I was noticing that also. Its really cool watching this being built.

CP Rundown just posted new pictures showing the second piece going into place!