July 2009 – Corey Burger

6 story wood building survives test earthquake

Given we live in an earthquake-prone part of the world and have recently approved the construction of six story wood buildings, you would think it might be good to test whether or not these shiny new buildings, designed to make apartment buildings cheaper and thus more attractive to build, are going to survive the big one.

Thankfully, we are not the only people in the world with a hankering to learn this information. A team from NEESWood Project out of Colorado State University decided to build a six-story wood structure on a shake table in Japan and have a go. Take a peek:

More videos on the project site, including that of the big test. Of course, these little shakes, estimated to be a 7.5 magnitude, are a far cry from the Big One, estimated at 8 to 9 with shaking lasting into the minutes.

(Hat-tip to Wired and Gizmodo)

The era of removing crosswalks is over…

…and not soon enough. For the past several decades crosswalks have been scraped up under the misguided assumption that it causes “pedestrians to act recklessly“. Even the US DOT Federal Highway Administration has changed its tune:

Pedestrians are legitimate users of the transportation system, and they should, therefore, be able to use this system safely and without unreasonable delay.

This change in thinking is hitting close to home, with the addition of two new crosswalks with a curb cut for wheelchairs at Bowker and Hampshire. This is immediately to the east of the dangerous Cadboro Bay Rd and Bowker Ave intersection that may get a traffic circle.

Will we get any more of this in 2009? I haven’t had a chance to ask David Marshall, head of Oak Bay Engineering yet and the 2008 Municipal Report (PDF), which just came out, makes no mention of any crossswalk or sidewalk works in 2009. Guess we will have to enjoy at least this victory.

Helping out at the MEC Bikefest

Patrick speaking with the Pedal to Petal guy

It has been a long time since I last posted, but I haven’t been any less busy. Today was case in point, as I helped out with the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition‘s “booth” at the MEC Bikefest in Market Square, one of many that MEC plans to hold across the country. Aside from the GVCC, on hand were the Pedal to Petal composting people, Moksana Yoga, South Island Mountain Bike Society (SIMBS) and bunch of smaller outfits.

Like any good bike event, free tuneups were had, this time by no less than three different groups, including MEC itself. This begs the question whether MEC will get into selling bikes, to which the answer is “it depends”. Speaking with an MEC staffer, here in Victoria we are unlikely to see MEC enter the market anytime soon, due to lack of staff and space, not to mention the massive amounts of competition already here. However, you can already buy bikes from their Vancouver & Toronto stores, with more on the way.

All in all, we had a blast. The weather was great and lots of people stopped by, including one of the people from the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition who was making his way back down the coast by bike. You can see more pictures in my 2009 MEC Bikefest Flickr set. See you all tomorrow at the Organic Islands Festival.