Western Railroad Discussion > SMART contractor erecting Bascule lift span at Petaluma River

I stopped at Petaluma on Friday on the way to Willits and surveyed the new construction on the new bridge at Haystack across the Petaluma River. The 100 year swing span is outdated and in need of a major rehabilitation in order to meet FRA passenger train standards.  The Coast Guard had also issued a directive for a new 110 foot clearance at Haystack on the Petaluma River which made the old swing span with its 35 foot channel obsolete. At the same time SMART was beginning to design the new commuter line with the intention of replacing the old structure.  Instead of designing a new bridge here, they went looking for an older existing bridge that would meet the new standards. They found one in Galveston Texas abut 5 years ago. BNSF has replaced an older span in 1985 with a new bascule lift span to increase the clearance across the Galveston Bay Channel.  SMART bought it before $4.2 million.  The bridge was dissembled and shipped by rail in ten gondola cars to Mare Island.  The contractor, Shimmick Constriction sand blasted and painted the bridge sections and is trucking the pieces to the work site. The bridge is being rebuilt in the UPRIGHT position with the counterweight being constructed first. The power systems will be put in last and it will be lowered with a crane to be sure the balance is correct.  The Foreman todl me that they have a tight 90 day schedule to finish it.  The first two images show the general work site, the last two show the some of counterweights in place. 

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Text and photos by Mike Pechner

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Nice Post.  Thanks for sharing.

Excellent  Keep them coming!!

That would be an interesting project to work on! Mike, do you have an overall photo of the site? Something that shows both banks?

Chris

Thanks for the update, Mike.

Will the line past the bridge be out of service the whole 90 days?

Stan Praisewater

sagehen Wrote:
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> Thanks for the update, Mike.
>
> Will the line past the bridge be out of service
> the whole 90 days?
>
> Stan Praisewater

The new bridge and the old bridge are on different alignments.

The old bridge will be unpinned from the center anchorage and picked up by two cranes and det on a barge and floated away. The historic bridge will not the dismantled. Here are some earlier views showing the construction from both sides of the river.

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weather Wrote:
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> The old bridge will be unpinned from the center
> anchorage and picked up by two cranes and det on a
> barge and floated away. The historic bridge will
> not the dismantled.

Interesting, I appreciate your updates. Where will the bridge be taken and given to?