A woman and her son died and two others suffered injuries when boulders came rolling down the hill slope following heavy rain, crashed onto the retaining wall, resulting in the rubble falling into their house, at Ganapathi Nagar under Gajuwaka Police Station limits, here late on on Sunday night.

The concrete retaining wall fell on the asbestos roof of their house and it collapsed. K. Ramalakshmi, who was eight months pregnant, and her two-year-old son Gyaneswar were trapped under the rubble and died on the spot. Ramalakshmis husband Lokanadham and her mother Parvathi sustained injuries, according to the Gajuwaka police.

The bodies were extricated from the rubble by the police with the help of Fire Service personnel, and shifted to the mortuary.

The continual downpour due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal led to rainwater overflowing on the roads at some places and flooding of low-lying areas. The strong winds resulted in the snapping of cable and telephone lines and falling of branches and trees at some places on Monday.

In some areas like Sankara Matam, the movement of traffic was disrupted for some times as trees fell across the roads. They were cleared by people of nearby areas and GVMC staff. Some of the low lying areas in the city were flooded due to the heavy rain but the water receded later.

GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana said the clogged drains were being cleared on a war-footing.

Rainwater overflowed on the streets and entered the cellar of an apartment near the Ayyappa Swami temple at Sheela Nagar. The residents of the area staged a protest demanding a permanent solution to the problem. They alleged that the unauthorised shops and constructed on the drains, were obstructing the flow of water.

Motorists had a tough time driving through the rainwater, which collected on the road below the railway bridge at Chavulamadhum on Monday.

Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam West MLA PGVR Naidu (Ganababu) visited the Ganapathi Nagar on Monday and met the family members of the victims and expressed his condolences. He appealed to the government to provide relief to the bereaved family members. He advised the officials concerned to initiate relief measures in the low-lying areas submerged due to incessant downpour due to the depression in the Bay of Bengal.

He felt that it was unfortunate that the government and officials had not taken preventive measures, though there was prior information about heavy rains, which resulted in the deaths.

TDP corporator nominee Lalam Lavanya, TDP leaders Nakka Lakshman Rao, Rambabu, Sattibabu, Ram Shankar, Prabhakar and Rammohan Naidu were among those who accompanied the MLA.

Link:
2 die, 2 injured in roof collapse due to heavy rain - The Hindu

In both bedrooms the windows on two walls meet at a corner, affording a 180-degree view of the woods beyond, which are home to deer and several barred owls.

An acre lot allows the outdoor pool to be offset from the back of the home, where it becomes a destination. The walk to the water first passes a large patio enclosed by a low stone wall accentuated by built-in planters at the corners. The walk continues through a second small patio and down a hill before arriving at the pool gate.

We were fortunate the previous owner left us 10 pieces of John Salterini wrought iron furniture, Lara says. He was a well-known midcentury furniture designer whose work is still sought by collectors.

Laura enjoys collecting area rugs, and the daughters bedroom displays two on the floor layered on top of each other. The owls on the walls are paper cutouts Lara created before their daughter was born.Several real barred owls live in the woods nearby.

Photo by Hillary Levin, hlevin@post-dispatch.com

The couple spent a month last summer removing overgrown shrubbery and taking down a collapsed stone retaining wall in front of the home. Reusing the same stone, they reconstructed the wall themselves, and then landscaped the area anew. It was a lot of work, but we are happy with how it turned out, Ehren says.

The residence features exceptionally large windows in the front and back, and from the street passersby can clearly see through the residence into the backyard. When it is snowing, it looks like we are living inside a snow globe, Lara says laughing.

Ehren and Lara Leonberger, in their Affton mid-century ranch home, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. Photo by Hillary Levin, hlevin@post-dispatch.com

Lara and Ehren Leonberger

Continued here:
At home: Her midcentury home in Lakeshire is one she used to know as a child - STLtoday.com

A 22 -year-old man is facing charges of impaired driving and refusing the breathalyzer following a collision with a parked car in St. Johns early Saturday morning.

The RNC say the charges were laid after the vehicle the man was driving collided with the car on The Boulevard at about 5 a.m. and then hit a rock retaining wall.

The man was originally taken to hospital but the RNC say he was not injured.

The male was released to appear in court at a later date.

EARLIER STORY:

One man was sent to hospital early Saturday morning after the car he was driving struck a parked vehicle and a retaining wall in St. Johns.

It appears the westbound car crossed over to the wrong side of the road on The Boulevard just before 5 a.m.,struck the parked vehicle and then swerved back to the right side of the road where it then hit the stone retaining wall. The parked car was moved several meters from its original location.

The owners of the car that was hit say this is the second time their car has been hit by another vehicle while it was parked near their home. The first time was when they lived at a different address.

Both carswere extensively damage.

The mans injuries were not thought to be serious.

The RNC is investigating the incident and more details will be provided as they become available.

Keith Gosse

The Telegram

keith.gosse@thetelegram.com

@TelyPhotoGosse

Continue reading here:
Man charged with impaired driving after car crashes into parked vehicle in St. John's early Saturday morning - The Telegram

METUCHEN The movement to fix the ongoing problem with trucks striking the Main Street Amtrak railroad bridge, which has an 11-foot, 2-inch clearance, began with a call from a borough police officer to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority.

We looked at the crash data and conversations began with Middlesex County, which is responsible for the roadway, said Christine Mittman, manager of safety programs for local project development at North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA). From that, we developed an application and the project moved into the program.

A total of 444 crashes occurred during a five-year period. More than 24% of all crashes occurred along Main Street and 64% of the 444 crashes occurred at four particular locations intersecting Main Street Route 27/Middlesex Avenue with 110 crashes, Pennsylvania Avenue/North East Corridor (NEC-Amtrak Bridge) with 57 crashes, Woodbridge Avenue Train Station/Post Office with 57 crashes and Amboy Avenue with 61 crashes.

The borough saw 55 bridge strikes at the NEC-Amtrak underpass from 2012-16.

To help with the ongoing problem that has plagued the borough for years, the borough is in receipt of a $9.3 million grant from the NJTPA to the County of Middlesex, which borough officials announced in January 2018.

The grant for the project is through the NJTPAs fiscal year 2017-18 local safety program, which is federally funded in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). It is funded through the Federal Highway Administrations Highway Safety Improvements Program, which advances safety improvements on county and local roadways.

Representatives from NJTPA, Michael Baker International, engineering and consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, and Middlesex County hosted a virtual public information center meeting on Oct. 7 to inform local residents, officials and businesses of the safety improvement project along Main Street between Talmadge and Brunswick avenues.

The project is in its preliminary design phase, which is expected to be completed by winter 2020-21.

The grant includes funding $800,000 for design and $8-$9 million for construction and construction inspection services, Mittman said.

The funds will be used to support Metuchens efforts to improve public safety, pedestrian safety, traffic signals and eliminate trucks from striking the Main Street railroad bridge, which is overseen by Amtrak, NJ Transit, the county and the borough.

The approved project will cover a 1.1-mile stretch of Main Street and is one of 14 throughout the state, but the only one approved in Middlesex County.

When looking at the entire borough there are only three streets that provide any significant north-south mobility, Brad Miller of Michael Baker International said. Right in the middle is Main Street, the longest [roadway] that provides access from north down to Route 287, Route 1 and indirectly to the New Jersey Turnpike. Its a significant corridor that draws a variety of significant types of traffic and different types of needs.

Representatives from Michael Baker International said each section of Main Street is unique and needs its own improvements. Work is expected to begin at the intersection of Talmadge Avenue with a gateway type improvement letting motorists know they are entering into a downtown area.

Infrastructure improvements to address the bridge strikes call for the implementation of a pole-mounted overheight vehicle detection system, which identifies and diverts overheight vehicles at selected intersections to suitable alternative routes with electronic and static Overheight Vehicle and Low Clearance signage and Bridge Ahead signs.

The improvements are proposed at eight locations southbound at Elm Avenue, Durham Avenue, Highland Avenue, Hillside and New Streets, northbound at Spring Street, Amboy Avenue, Clinton Place, Woodbridge Avenue.

Improvements to the underpass itself include the railings, retaining wall, sidewalk, lighting and storm drainage.

Other improvements along Main Street include new and upgraded traffic signal infrastructure Main Street at New Street and Hillside Avenue with upgraded equipment, Main Street at Woodridge Avenue with a proposed new signal, Main Street at Amoy Avenue with upgraded equipment and Main Street at Brunswick Avenue and Myrtle Avenue with a proposed new signal.

Up to five new or upgraded flashing pedestrian beacons are proposed. A proposed new rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB) are proposed for Main Street at Elm Avenue, Main Street midblock between Highland Avenue and Hillside Avenue/New Street, Main Street midblock between Charles Street and East/West Walnut Street and upgrades to the existing RRFB at Main Street and Lincoln Avenue.

All upgrades will be made to Americans Disabilities Act (ADA)/Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) standards.

Main Street is too narrow for dedicated bicycle lanes or paths, officials said. Proposed plans call for a shared-lane design with the proposal of sharrow symbols every 100 feet, which are already on Amboy and Woodbridge avenues.

Curb extensions are proposed in front of the Forum Theater in efforts to bolster the area in the future as well as the bus stop locations along Main Street and in front of St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral.

Main Street, also known as Route 531, serves as the boroughs downtown commercial business area. It is one of the main arteries feeding traffic in and out of the borough. The corridor sees significant pedestrian traffic and includes a NJ Transit rail station.

The corridor is ranked 13th on the NJTPAs list of high-crash pedestrian corridors in the county. The intersection of Main Street and Amboy Avenue is ranked ninth on the list of high-crash pedestrian intersections in the county.

After the completed preliminary design, the next steps include NJDOT approval of the environmental document by fall 2021, authorization to commence final design by spring 2022, anticipated federal authorization to construct by winter 2022-23, construction to begin by spring 2023 and construction substantially completed by winter 2023-24.

The presentation made at the meeting on Oct. 7 is on the boroughs website at http://www.metuchennj.org.

Written public comment and suggestions can be sent to Ron Sendner, county engineer with the Office of Engineering, NJDOT up to Oct. 30. A suggestion form available at http://www.njtpa.org/Get-Involvded/Info-Resources/Calendar/2020/October/Public-Meeting-Metuchen-Safety-Improvements.aspx can be sent to 75 Bayard St., New Brunswick 08901 or emailed to Ronald.Sendner@co.middlesex.nj.us or faxed to 732-745-8852.

Continued here:
Infrastructure improvements for one-mile stretch of Metuchen's Main Street in preliminary design phase, public comment accepted through Oct. 30 -...

Sorry, bikers and walkers, we dont know how long youll have to go around.

Denver Parks and Rec have known their timber retainers keeping dirt from collapsing onto the South Platte River Trail by Vanderbilt Park have been a problem. Deputy Executive Director Scott Gilmore said the department closed the bike and pedestrian trail south of the Santa Fe Drive overpass about a week ago to bore some holes and check on the soil stability there.

Clearly that is not very stable, because during the boring the soil shifted and pushed the wall out further, he told us.

Their attempt to see if the trail was safe made things worse, possibly doing what time and weather would do eventually. Right now, the wooden retaining wall curves over the trail like a Thanksgiving belly over a belt. It doesnt look like extreme danger, but the infrastructure is now in enough disrepair that Gilmore said he doesnt know when the trail will reopen.

Weve always known this was going to be an extensive section of the trail to improve, Gilmore said.

He said it could cost as much as $9 million to make a permanent fix, if not more. And doing work in that section of trail is tricky because CDOT has domain over Santa Fe Drive, which speeds by just past the bowing timbers.

Gilmore said the city will begin exploring temporary fixes, but Parks and Rec would really like to do something for the long haul. And its not just about a busted wall. The trail there is just 8 feet wide, and Gilmore said 12 feet is really the standard.

Parks, like every other city department, is wrestling with a recession-era budget. Gilmore said the city has about $3 million allocated to do something, but it could be challenging to shore up more cash to get it done.

For now, bikers and walkers will have to cruise Jason Street, on the west side of Vanderbilt Park, and reconnect with the trail where it meets Huron Street. There is no timetable for when theyll get to return to the rivers edge.

Read the original here:
There's an indefinite detour on the South Platte Trail by Vanderbilt Park - Denverite

The Journal

Colorado Department of Transportation and contractor Oldcastle SW Group Inc. have completed the project to repair and make safety improvements on Colorado Highway 145 and U.S. Highway 550 in Dolores, Montezuma and Ouray counties.

The project, completed ahead of schedule and under budget, has preserved the structural integrity of the highways with the repairs and reconstruction of retaining systems at the roadways shoulder edges. The work zones and work items included:

Colorado Highway 145, mile point 24.5, about 12 miles north of Dolores in Montezuma County. Work involved a deep patch repair of the roadway and installation of a new rock buttress that provides slope stability underneath the roadway.Guardrail replacement on Colorado Highway 145 about 3 miles north of Rico in Dolores County. Work involved removing the existing retaining wall material below the edge of the roadway, installing micropiling and concrete pile caps with new backfill material to secure the slope, and followup highway surface repair.Guardrail replacement on U.S. Highway 550, MP 90, 2 miles south of Ouray in Ouray County. Work involved retaining wall removal and replacement of two failing roadway sections with a crib wall system; follow-up highway surface repair and installation of new inlet and drainage culvert.For more information, visit http://www.codot.gov/projects/co145-us550-patchwallrepair.

Continued here:
Safety and drainage improvements on Colorado 145 completed early - The Journal

Land hurdles end, project resumesThe underpass project at the busy Kundalahalli junction, which is under construction currently, is expected to be ready by February next year. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has come up with a four-month action plan to complete the work which was halted due to land acquisition hurdles, including the acquisition of around 24 properties at a cost of Rs 42.51 crore.

BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad on Thursday inspected the work along with zonal engineers. He promised to take custody of around 33,654 square feet of land, required for building service roads on both sides of the underpass, in a weeks time. The junction will have a 10-metre wide service road. The work was taken up in February last year but the project suffered delays due to confusion over acquiring properties two or three times the guidance value.

The civic body conducted rate negotiation meeting with the land owners on January 3, 2020. The owners apparently did not agree to the offer of compensation of 1.63 times of the guidance value. A second meeting with owners was held on February 24. Both the parties agreed for two times the guidance value. This translates to Rs 42.51 crore for acquiring 33,654 square feet of land.

The service roads will be widened after the land acquisition is completed. The work requires about a weeks time

N Manjunath Prasad, BBMP Commissioner

Between October 15 and February 15, the main carriageway of Old Airport Road at the junction will be closed. Motorists, however, will have wide service road for commuting towards Marathalli or Whitefield. While the busy junction will soon go signal-free, Old Airport Road is unlikely to be eased any time soon as there are several intersections that clog the busy road.

Originally posted here:
Kundalahalli underpass is expected to be ready by February - Bangalore Mirror

The Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic and his officers, with some Illinois State Police assistance, apprehended and rescued three individuals after a stolen car chase at the Chain of Rocks Bridge area on Tuesday.

The driver of the vehicle earlier crashed into another vehicle at Gateway and Illinois Route 111 and left the scene of the accident with their hood up. The car fled the scene and Pontoon Beach was contacted to stage and await the vehicle. Once the vehicle was close to the Chain of Rocks Bridge, it caught fire in front and eventually stopped on the bridge. The three involved jumped out of the vehicle and attempted to flee from officers, and the two males appeared to scale a 30-foot retaining wall and were both injured. A woman also was injured after attempting to flee the vehicle.

One person was airlifted from the scene and the other two were transported to an area hospital for emergency care.

Modrusic said his department will prepare charges for the Madison County State's Attorney's Office from Tuesday's chase and series of events. He said a 45-caliber-gun holster was found, along with a bulletproof vest and narcotics. The handgun had not yet been located, Modrusic said. He wondered if the weapon had been tossed into the river.

The police chief praised the work of his department and law enforcement in handling this particular case.

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Stolen Car Chase Ends At Chain Of Rocks Bridge: Pontoon Beach Police Apprehend, Rescue Three Individuals - RiverBender.com

HERE is a round-up of the most important planning applications put forward in the Stroud District this week.

All of the applications can be viewed via the planning section of Stroud District Councils website.

CONVERSION AND UPGRADE OF EXISTING OUTBUILDING TO ANNEXE FOR ELDERLY RELATIVE AT STARSMEAD FARMHOUSE, HARESFIELD, GL10 3EG.

Application number: S.20/2130/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

ERECTION OF TWO DWELLINGS AND ASSOCIATED WORKS ON LAND AT 331 WESTWARD ROAD, EBLEY.

Application number: S.20/2119/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

ERECTION OF POLY TUNNEL AT STROUD SLAD FARM, SLAD LANE, STROUD.

Application number: S.20/2106/AGR

Status: Awaiting decision

CONSTRUCTION OF RETAINING WALL TO CREATE TWO NEW PARKING BAYS (PRIVATE USE), INSTALL AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING POINT AND REBUILD THE COLLAPSING PARKING BAY OPPOSITE SOUTH VIEW COTTAGE, AT BOX COTTAGE, DOWNEND, HORSLEY.

Application number: S.20/2100/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

NEW DWELLING ON LAND AT 4 FOXES DELL, FOREST GREEN, NAILSWORTH.

Application number: S.20/2081/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

COVERED OUTDOOR SEATING AREA IN CONNECTION WITH AN EXISTING RESTAURANT, AT AMALFI RESTAURANT, 16 THE OLD CROWN, MARKET STREET, NAILSWORTH.

Application number: S.20/2064/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

ERECTION OF A SHIPLAP SUMMER HOUSE AT SPRING CORNER, ROCKNESS HILL, NAILSWORTH.

Application number: S.20/2061/CPL

Status: Awaiting decision

A FREESTANDING ADVERTISING SIGN MOUNTED ON STEEL POSTS AT STONE CRICKET CLUB, SWANLEY, ALKINGTON, BERKELEY.

Application number: S.20/2011/ADV

Status: Awaiting decision

PROPOSED ERECTION OF 6 X 15 METRE FLOODLIGHT MASTS AT HAMFIELDS LEISURE, HAMFIELD LANE, BERKELEY.

Application number: S.20/1907/FUL

Status: Awaiting decision

See original here:
PLANNING: A round-up of planning applications put forward in Stroud this week - Stroud News and Journal

Only if you were living under a rock in 2015 could you have missed then-Mayor Mitch Landrieus proposal which generated no shortage of headlines, discussion and, in some quarters, outrage to remove three prominent Confederate monuments and the White supremacist Liberty Monument from the New Orleans landscape.

And not even under-rock dwellers could have avoided the extended public kerfuffle when those monuments came tumbling down in 2017.

Reader Karen Plauche, however, is curious about another conspicuous but architecturally significant Confederate landmark spared by Landrieus efforts.

That would be the 129-year-old Memorial Hall, the castle-like structure at 929 Camp St. housing Louisianas oldest museum and home to one of the largest collections of Confederate artifacts in the country.

Plauches question: Was the unique building that houses the Confederate museum built for that purpose, or did it have another use originally? Whats its story?

The answer to the first question is easy: Yes, it was indeed built as a Confederate museum.

A portrait of Frank T. Howard as published Jan. 8, 1891, in The Daily Picayune. Howard provided the funding for Memorial Hall, an annex of the Howard Memorial Library on Camp Street, for use as a Confederate museum.

As for the rest of its story, that will take a little more time.

It starts with New Orleans philanthropist Frank T. Howard, who in 1881 had completed work on the Howard Library, built in memory of his father, businessman Charles T. Howard, on a parcel adjacent to the future site of Memorial Hall.

(That site, incidentally, is but a stones throw from Lee Circle, giving the museum a front-row seat to the 2017 removal of the citys once-iconic Robert E. Lee statue.)

Given his fathers fascination with the Civil War, the younger Howard invited Confederate veterans to house their personal artifacts uniforms, flags, guns, books, maps and the like in the Howard Library. The collection quickly grew, and plans were put in motion to build an annex next door to house them all.

That annex would be Memorial Hall, completed in 1890 25 years after the end of the Civil War and smack in the middle of the Lost Cause era, during which the Confederate struggle was held up as heroic and righteous.

Designed by prominent New Orleans architect Thomas Sully, the one-story brick building, which includes a basement, was constructed in the same Richardson Romanesque style as the Howard Library and originally consisted chiefly of one long main room, measuring about 96 feet long, 24 feet wide and with a 24-foot high ceiling.

Its outer walls are of pressed brick, ornamented with richly carved semi-glazed terracotta trimmings, while the retaining wall and steps are of Long Meadow brown stone, reads the successful 1975 application to have the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Some buildings are eye-catching because theyre so grand. Others are eye-catching because theyre unique. Still others stand out simply becaus

Also located on the buildings front is a two-story octagonal tower and an ornate entrance portico lined by columns and topped with a variation of a cross patte, a version of which would later become the model for the Southern Cross of Honor Medal awarded by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Inside, the buildings vaulted cathedral ceiling, highlighted by exposed trusses, was lined with various Confederate banners, according to a description published in The Times-Picayune upon the buildings opening. Its interior walls are still lined with panels of polished cypress.

Right away, the building became a magnet for meetings and reunions of Confederate veterans. Most notably, the remains of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis having been exhumed from Metairie Cemetery and headed for reburial in Richmond lay in state at Memorial Hall for a day in May 1893, drawing throngs of mourners and sightseers.

Meanwhile, the museums collection continued to grow. By 1887, it warranted construction of an upper gallery running the buildings length, according to the National Register application.

While it is recognized as architecturally significant, the building has been the subject of repeated ownership disputes over the years, most recently involving the University of New Orleans.

Upon its dedication on Jan. 8, 1891 not coincidentally the 75th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans it was donated by Howard to the Louisiana Historical Association, the group formed to operate the museum, for its perpetual use.

It was 1881, and cotton was king throughout the South and particularly in New Orleans.

But in the 1990s, UNO came into possession of the original Howard Library building after the library moved to Tulane Universitys campus. It claimed rights to the hall, because its an annex of the library building, and expressed its desire to evict the museum.

Complicating matters was the fact that Memorial Hall essentially bisected UNOs Ogden Museum of Southern Art, which occupies the former Howard Library building now the Patrick F. Taylor Library on Memorial Halls southernmost side and the Goldring building on Memorial Halls north side.

A bitter, back-and-forth legal battle has since thawed. Today, the bigger threat to Memorial Hall and its collection is probably perception, with many casting a jaundiced eye at what is often seen as a glorification of the Confederacy and its racist roots.

For now, however, the museum and the historic building housing it remains.

Know of a New Orleans building worth profiling in this column, or just curious about one? Contact Mike Scott at moviegoermike@gmail.com.

Sources: The Times-Picayune archives, National Register of Historic Places.

Its hard to imagine now with the cacophonous pageant that plays out there regularly pandemic or no pandemic, apparently but there was a t

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The history stored in Memorial Hall is controversial, but the building has a story of its own - NOLA.com