Burlington, Iowa, railroad bridge work hits snag

Written by jrood

The very foundation of the Burlington, Iowa, railroad bridge project over the Mississippi River may have to be shifted before significant work can continue on-site for increasing the navigation channel by constructing a lift-span, the Burlington Hawkeye reports. In drilling foundations for a new pier on the east side of the span to support the new lift-span, contractors encountered large rocks and sheet metal that prevented them from finding bedrock and securing the foundations.

BNSF spokesman Steve
Forsberg said the guess is the riprap and metal are a result of old rail lines
dumping the debris in the river to stabilize areas subject to erosion.

"The only thing that
we can safely say at this point in time is that we encountered unexpected
obstructions and that we’re studying, as a team, with the Coast Guard and the
contractor, potential solutions," Forsberg said.

BNSF is working with the
U.S. Coast Guard as part of the 1940 Truman Hobbs Act that requires bridges to
be altered if they impair the ability to navigate the river channel.

The railway hired Ames
Construction out of Minnesota as the main contractor for the project, though
the business has employed several local subcontractors.

Both BNSF and the Coast
Guard believe the issue can be resolved, but the cost of the shift and the
length of delay are not yet determined.

Roger Wiebusch, bridge
administrator for the 8th Coast Guard District out of St. Louis, said the new
plan may require the span part of the bridge to be shifted 75 feet to the east
to be able to find bedrock for a solid foundation for the pier.

"I think the important
thing is to get piers in the right place where it’s going to be safe for
navigation to get through the area," Wiebusch said. "I think there
will be some minor changes, but the navigation span will stay the same."

The construction will
increase the navigation span from about 150 feet to more than 300 feet, which
is the length Wiebusch said it would remain. He said he expects the new plan to
be ready in a matter of weeks.

Forsberg said the large
metal and rocks had only caused a problem where the eastern pier would have
been placed. Because it’s still the early stages of the project – construction
began in earnest in November – Forsberg said the foundations for either of the
piers have not been completed.

Both BNSF and the Coast
Guard agree moving the piers will set the construction back for now, but the time
can be made up during the long construction period. Construction is expected to
continue into 2011.

"The overall
construction timeline had a lot of overlapping timelines, and any construction
schedule was always subject to weather and other conditions," Forsberg
said. "I don’t know that this has had a significant impact on the overall
project’s timeline."

Forsberg said work
continues off site, with suppliers fabricating spans. Work continues on the
bridge – a crane has been parked near the eastern part of the span for the past
couple of days – but Forsberg said it has just been there to secure the pier in
place.

Prior to the delay,
Forsberg said previously he expects the shaft foundations to be completed by
the end of this month.

The Burlington bridge
project has long been on the U.S. Coast Guard’s list of bridges in need of
repair, because it is one of the top three in the United States most often hit
by barges or other towing boats. Between 1992 and 2001, the bridge was struck
92 times.

Congress slowly has been
building up appropriations for the 118-year-old bridge. The lawmakers secured
enough funds last spring to get the project started, thanks to stimulus
dollars.

According to a release by
BNSF, the bridge is used by about 30 trains a day. The bridge opens about 300
times a month during the navigation season to let river traffic pass.

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