See that slight dip in the track? No wonder the Union Pacific plans to replace the timber trestle there with a concrete bridge.
Here’s a railroad bridge construction project in Albany that likely won’t affect anyone other than, perhaps, the immediate neighbors.
The Union Pacific has applied for a city permit to replace a wooden trestle on its mainline with a concrete structure.
I took a bike ride Thursday to take a look at the trestle, but there’s no public access to it, and I gave it up.
The bridge is on the UP mainline northeast of the Pine Street crossing, fairly close to a dead-end stub of Cleveland Street. Last year, the railroad replaced a similar wooden bridge across Cox Creek.
Now, it plans to replace the existing nine-span timber trestle that spans Periwinkle Creek for 135 feet. The replacement will be shorter. The railroad describes it as a 30-foot, three-span prestressed concrete box girder bridge for a total length of 90 feet.
That only sounds like it leaves a gap in the track. You can be sure it won’t.
The engineers for the railroad, Coldwater Engineering of Helena, Montana, say the new structure will provide 29 percent less opening area, but this won’t affect the creek’s flow area because 60 feet downstream there’s an even smaller opening, a 12-foot diameter pipe culvert under the BSNF track used by the Portland & Western Railroad.
No fill is to be placed in the active channel bottom, the engineers say, and the bridge replacement will have zero effect on the rise of any 50- or 100-year flood.
“The proposed … bridge,” they write in response to development standards, “will decrease the UPRR structure size over Periwinkle Creek. However, due to the size of the channel and the downstream P&W structure, the area lost is ineffective flow area and will not diminish the flood carrying capacity of Periwinkle Creek.”
They add: “The watercourse is not to be relocated.”
The Albany Community Development Department has just notified property owners within 300 feet of the bridge and invited comments by Dec. 28. The nearest houses are on Cleveland Street south of the track and along Salem Avenue north of it.
There’s no word in the application on when the construction will start. (hh)
Looking northeast along the UP track toward the bridge from the Pine Street pedestrian and bike crossing on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.
UP to replace trestle on Periwinkle Creek
See that slight dip in the track? No wonder the Union Pacific plans to replace the timber trestle there with a concrete bridge.
Here’s a railroad bridge construction project in Albany that likely won’t affect anyone other than, perhaps, the immediate neighbors.
The Union Pacific has applied for a city permit to replace a wooden trestle on its mainline with a concrete structure.
I took a bike ride Thursday to take a look at the trestle, but there’s no public access to it, and I gave it up.
The bridge is on the UP mainline northeast of the Pine Street crossing, fairly close to a dead-end stub of Cleveland Street. Last year, the railroad replaced a similar wooden bridge across Cox Creek.
Now, it plans to replace the existing nine-span timber trestle that spans Periwinkle Creek for 135 feet. The replacement will be shorter. The railroad describes it as a 30-foot, three-span prestressed concrete box girder bridge for a total length of 90 feet.
That only sounds like it leaves a gap in the track. You can be sure it won’t.
The engineers for the railroad, Coldwater Engineering of Helena, Montana, say the new structure will provide 29 percent less opening area, but this won’t affect the creek’s flow area because 60 feet downstream there’s an even smaller opening, a 12-foot diameter pipe culvert under the BSNF track used by the Portland & Western Railroad.
No fill is to be placed in the active channel bottom, the engineers say, and the bridge replacement will have zero effect on the rise of any 50- or 100-year flood.
“The proposed … bridge,” they write in response to development standards, “will decrease the UPRR structure size over Periwinkle Creek. However, due to the size of the channel and the downstream P&W structure, the area lost is ineffective flow area and will not diminish the flood carrying capacity of Periwinkle Creek.”
They add: “The watercourse is not to be relocated.”
The Albany Community Development Department has just notified property owners within 300 feet of the bridge and invited comments by Dec. 28. The nearest houses are on Cleveland Street south of the track and along Salem Avenue north of it.
There’s no word in the application on when the construction will start. (hh)
Looking northeast along the UP track toward the bridge from the Pine Street pedestrian and bike crossing on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.
Tags: bicycling, Cleveland Street, Perwinkle Creek, Pine Street, Portland & Western, railroad bridgge, Union Pacific