UP opens new high bridge near Boone, Iowa
Written by jrood
Union Pacific Chairman and CEO Jim Young, Iowa Department of Transportation Director Nancy Richardson and Boone, Iowa, Mayor John Slight commemorated one of North America's tallest double-track railroad bridges, the new Kate Shelley Bridge in Iowa spanning the Des Moines River. Young, Richardson and Slight rode a Union Pacific train over the bridge, which is more than 2,800 feet long and 190 feet high.
Representing an
investment of more than $50 million by Union Pacific, the structure improves
operating efficiency, supports growth in Union Pacific’s customers’ businesses
and delivers increased freight capacity on the railroad’s busy corridor linking
Chicago to the West Coast.
"The new
Kate Shelley Bridge enhances our long-term ability to improve operational
efficiency and customer service," Young said. "Congratulations to all
Union Pacific employees and contractors who worked on what is truly a
modern-day engineering feat."
"It is
only fitting that the new bridge is given the name of the structure it replaced,
Kate Shelley, to honor a person who helped save so many lives when she was able
to help warn an oncoming passenger train that a bridge had washed out during a
stormy night 1881," Young added.
Built between
2006 and 2009, the new bridge was constructed to handle heavy trains such as
coal and grain. The two tracks, 20 feet apart, are set on a ballast deck that
is supported by reinforced concrete towers and steel piles. Two trains can
operate on the bridge at the same time at the maximum speed of 70 mph. The first train operated over the
bridge August 20.
OCCI, Inc.,
based in Fulton, Mo., was the contractor for the project and Omaha-based HDR
Engineering Inc., provided the engineering for the bridge construction.
Since 1997,
Union Pacific has invested more than $1 billion in Iowa in branch line
upgrades, east-west corridor capacity improvements, ethanol and grain related
projects, communication and signal improvements, and major projects such as the
new Kate Shelley Bridge.
