Port Mann Expansion Joint

Anyone else been bitten by the sharp expansion joint on the Surrey side of the Port Mann bridge? Someone in our Sunday club ride eventually flats there every time we go over to Surrey.
Photo credit: Mario Bartel

Hi RossputinN - sorry to hear about the flat.

We've got signs advising riders about the expansion joints, but would appreciate your take. What else would you suggest to help riders keep their speed down?

Feel free to get in touch - [email protected]

Cheers,
Greg

Haha, awesome.

That bridges design is a disaster. We saw it even during construction. The expansion joints on the roadway are a total danger, even more so then what is pictured here. Foremost on the east bound climb, when combined with weather will only continue to cause accidents, due to loss of control. It's a highway, you shouldn't have smooth steel expansion joints in the middle of a curve, in a place it rains lots.

Hi RossputinN - sorry to hear about the flat.

We've got signs advising riders about the expansion joints, but would appreciate your take. What else would you suggest to help riders keep their speed down?

Feel free to get in touch - [email protected]

Cheers,
Greg

I haven't ridden over this bridge, so I don't know how bad that joint is….

But maybe you guys could look at any number of other bridges in the Lower Mainland for ideas on how to better deal with expansion joints from a bicycle perspective.

Hi RossputinN - sorry to hear about the flat.

We've got signs advising riders about the expansion joints, but would appreciate your take. What else would you suggest to help riders keep their speed down?

Feel free to get in touch - [email protected]

Cheers,
Greg

This response is stupid and obtuse on so many levels.

Maybe start with understanding why people are biking in the first place. Hint: because it's much faster than walking. So trying to slow down bikes is contradictory to the reason for riding bikes. Why not design such that all users can go their "normal" speed? Separated lanes for fast/slow riders and pedestrians?

There are a number of expansion joints on the shared bike/walk way. But only one of them seems to consistently result in flats. Rather than slow down, can we make that particular joint a little smaller/safer/blunt-er?

I have no personal experience with this road hazard , so this is just an observation .

Who is responsible for the travelling surface on this bridge ?

Because I'll bet if a similar hazard existed on the surface where the cars and trucks go , it would have been dealt with a long time ago , like pretty much as soon as it appeared to be a problem .

Surely some kind of rubber mat could be fabricated to fit into that joint to eradicate that harsh transition .

I complained about an expansion joint on the Upper Levels after they did a bunch of repairs to the sidewalks a few years ago. I can't remember who I contacted, MOT?

Anyway, they were very receptive, knew of the issues and within a week some concrete was placed before the upturned piece of metal to make it less abrupt when riding over.

Who is responsible for the travelling surface on this bridge ?

The responsible party, TIcorp, has responded directly in this thread, and provided a contact email address.

If the issue is not excessive speed (which I am pretty sure it isn't given that it sounds like other expansion joints are OK) then lets take the opportunity to suggest other alternatives to make this particular expansion joint better. Can it be covered, can sharp edges be rounded off, etc.