CHSRA Completes Fifth Structure of 2023

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor, Railway Age

The McCombs Road overcrossing in Kern County, Calif., is now complete, California High-Speed Rail Authority reported July 18. (Photographs Courtesy of CHSRA, via Twitter)

KERN COUNTY, Calif. – The McCombs Road overcrossing north of Wasco is the fifth structure to be completed this year for the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), whose 119-mile Central Valley segment is under construction.

This grade separation spans 415 feet, is 40 feet wide, and realigns McCombs Road to take traffic over State Route (SR) 43, current BNSF track and future high-speed rail lines, CHSRA and California Rail Builders (a joint venture of Ferrovial Construction and Griffith Company) reported July 18.

Work began in May 2020; it took 15 pre-cast concrete girders, 158 deck panels and more than 2,300 cubic yards of concrete to complete the structure.

The other four structures constructed in 2023 are the Elkhorn Avenue overcrossing in Fresno County; grade separations at Idaho and Dover avenues in Kings County; and the Cedar Viaduct, a high-speed rail signature structure in Fresno County.

There are more than 30 active construction sites in the Central Valley, with CHSRA having environmentally cleared 422 miles of the high-speed rail program from the Bay Area to the Los Angeles Basin.