DHS Parking lot remodel and expansion

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I'm confused about the demolition of that overpass. Wasn't that road the only way to enter northbound World Drive from westbound Osceola Parkway?
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
It was. But a new ramp has been built that replaces it.

Yep, you can see it in this picture

1584800199484.png
 

kthomas105

Well-Known Member
I am not a road engineer so I don’t fully understand the reason they wanted to remove the bridge. The new ramp achieves the same thing as the old ramp with the bridge. I understand, because of the new DHS entrance, the bridge is superfluous As no traffic needs to cross the ramp any longer. With that said wouldn’t it be fine to leave it that way until the bridge ages out? I get the advantage of removing the bridge provides a straighter approach ramp without an incline or decline but it just seems like a lot of work for no substantial reason, again based on my own (non-engineering) opinion.
 

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
I am not a road engineer so I don’t fully understand the reason they wanted to remove the bridge. The new ramp achieves the same thing as the old ramp with the bridge. I understand, because of the new DHS entrance, the bridge is superfluous As no traffic needs to cross the ramp any longer. With that said wouldn’t it be fine to leave it that way until the bridge ages out? I get the advantage of removing the bridge provides a straighter approach ramp without an incline or decline but it just seems like a lot of work for no substantial reason, again based on my own (non-engineering) opinion.
Previously, there were two ramps right next to each other: the first, cast member only access for DHS, and the second, access to World Drive. Guests frequently took the wrong ramp, leading to a 10 min headache for the guests and cast. Now, with the Star Wars Hotel about to use a very similar access area, it was deemed better to streamline all three into one ramp.
 

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of early May 2020. An extra large berm has appeared where the original Hollywood Studios car entrance (and overpass) was located.

View attachment 469385

My guesss would be a berm is easier to hide all the backstage stuff there that is open viewing, especially with the bridge gone now. Maybe plant some trees and shrubs in it also, make it a nice landscaped berm and it will soon look like it has always been there. Typical Disney work.
 

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
I am not a road engineer so I don’t fully understand the reason they wanted to remove the bridge. The new ramp achieves the same thing as the old ramp with the bridge. I understand, because of the new DHS entrance, the bridge is superfluous As no traffic needs to cross the ramp any longer. With that said wouldn’t it be fine to leave it that way until the bridge ages out? I get the advantage of removing the bridge provides a straighter approach ramp without an incline or decline but it just seems like a lot of work for no substantial reason, again based on my own (non-engineering) opinion.
Removing the bridge has two advantages:

(1) All roadway bridges have to be inspected periodically for structural integrity and maintained. These inspections and any required maintenance are not free, so minimizing the exposure to these expenses may be a prudent way to reduce the impact that the other new bridges across the property were having on the RCID and Disney balance sheets.
(2) The bridge had relatively steep approaches with sharp turns. In particular, the vertical curvature of the road provided shorter sight lines to drivers than were appropriate for the speeds that the bridge was commonly driven over at. Drivers are much worse at giving themselves adequate stopping distances on vertical curves than horizontal curves. So rear-end collisions may have been more likely on that ramp than the new design.

Finally, I would imagine that the cost of removing this bridge now, as a part of the overall intersection reconstruction, is cheaper than doing it at a later date in its own project.
 

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