Lenwood bridge project will add two extra lanes to road
Written by jrood
February 14, 2001 Construction for a bridge over Lenwood Road near West Main Street in Barstow, Calif., is expected to begin in two years and will transform the current two-lane road into a four-lane road, the Desert Dispatch reports.
Construction for the
bridge project, usually referred to as the Lenwood grade separation, is
expected to start June 2012 and will cost $30 million, said Deborah Barmark,
executive director for San Bernardino Associated Governments. Once the project
is completed Lenwood Road will have two lanes going in each direction.
"It will reduce
congestion at the crossing as more trains are projected to go through the area,"
she said, adding that 4,200 cars and trucks a day use Lenwood Road.
Barmark and representatives
from Union Pacific and BNSF railroads and the Port of Long Beach gave an update
of the various projects their agencies have planned for Southern California at
a luncheon hosted by the city and the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce. Other
speakers at the event included San Bernardino First District Supervisor Brad
Mitzelfelt, who also serves as SANBAG’s board president.
Much of the event’s
discussion centered around bridges over railroad crossings. Barmark said SANBAG
has five projects in the planning stations including the Lenwood Road project.
The proposed bridge is designed to lessen congestion and traffic to the
proposed Barstow Industrial Park and Walmart Distribution Center. The project
began in 2007 and is being funded by federal, state, county and city dollars.
Barmark also said
construction for a bridge at the Colton Crossing, in the city of Colton near
Interstate 10, where trains from BNSF and Union Pacific intersect, is expected
to begin next year. The Colton Crossing project seeks to build a bridge where a
train can travel over another train and will cost about $200 million.
Douglas Thiessen,
managing director of engineering at the Port of Long Beach, spoke about the
port’s plans to increase its capacity and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
Robert Brendza, BNSF railway corridor superintendent, talked about how the
railroad is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Lupe Valdez, director of
public policy and community affairs for Union Pacific, spoke about technology
being developed to reduce the number of train collisions. The technology would
force a train to stop before it crashes into another train, she said.
