New BNSF bridge to be barged to site.

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bcp

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Article about the other bridge mentioned, that was barged to its site.


Bruce
 
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Not too far away, the BNSF bridge 5.1 over the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon was done in the same manner back in 1989. It was converted from a swing bridge to a vertical lift bridge, and the change over was done in 72 hours. How is that possible? Well, the vast majority of work was done ahead of time. The new support structures were built in place of course, but they were able to do it so that the track remained open during the work.

The tricky bit was swapping the span out. The span was constructed in a nearby shipyard, quite possibly the same one in Vancouver, though I'm not certain of that. The bridge was complete and ready to go before they floated it into place. The company I worked for installed the track and ties on the structure. The whole thing was built in a giant dry dock so that it could be floated out when completed. It was interesting to work, even though we weren't above the water, we were still up in the air, and so it required some serious safety precautions. The work went well and the swap was completed on schedule, with the line opened when they said it would be.

 




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