Eastern Railroad Discussion > Grade Separated Underpass "So What Is The Hold Up?"

Update On New Grade Separated Underpass
         US78 “Bankhead Hwy.” / SR 92
Norfolk Southern Alabama East End District
              Douglasville Georgia

During the past 18-20 years there have been no less then eight grade separated over / under passes built involving the mainlines of the Norfolk Southern Railroad west and northwest of Atlanta Georgia. Both the Alabama and Georgia Divisions have benefited from these eight projects as have the local municipalities by reducing the number of at grade road crossings on just about all of them. After several years of talking and planning, not to mention a number of accidents involving trains and vehicles, work finally started in August of 2014 on the relocation of GA.SR92 to the east of downtown Douglasville Georgia. Currently GA.SR92 runs through the center of downtown Douglasville and includes an additional level road crossing to the east of town for truck and trailer traffic. At completion of the project, slated for 2020 three existing road crossing will be eliminated with relocation of another to the west of it's current location by some 100 yards.  

Road work on the new divided bypass hi-way is about 60% complete to the north and south of US Hwy 78 “Bankhead Hwy” that runs along side to the tracks. The construction of the three bridges at the center of the project has yet to begin at the following locations: East Strickland Street / NS East End Mainline / US78 Bankhead Hwy. For the building of two of these bridges it required an offset of Bankhead Hwy to allow for a temporary “Shoofly” of the NS East End mainline. The Hwy offset has been in place now for over a year with precast concrete barriers separating the hi-way from the designated location of the required roadbed for the shoofly. Long sections of ribbon rail and a large supply of new ties have also been on site for well over a year. For months now the project has been stalled with no work in progress related to building of the railroad shoofly so that construction could begin on two of the three bridges for this project.

So What Is The Holdup???
Recently I reached out to the City of Douglasville for information on reasons for the delay. One was via e-mail communication the other over the phone. The “temporary delay” (well over a year now) apparently involved negotiations between Norfolk Southern and C.W. Mathews (the contractor) related to a retaining wall. ***The retaining wall will take 4 months to build before the tracks can be moved creating the Shoofly. The retaining wall to be built will be on East Strickland ST. between the siding track and the street. There are several homes close to the tracks and it is in this area where the shoofly will angle back to the original rail location. In the event of a derailment, the wall is designed to reduce the risk of cars and or locomotives from skidding across East Strickland St into the homes that line the road. So as of this post 4 months to build a wall takes us into June and then 60 days to build the Shoofly??? Really  

***Clarified location of retaining wall.***

During the past two weeks work crews were busy relocating the fiber optic cables within the area that NS put in years ago. So perhaps after a year or more of delay this project will get moving again. We shall see.
#1 Artist Rendering of the completed project. (GDOT Website)
#2 Over head photo of current location (City Of Douglasville Website)
#3 NS 154 (BIRMINGHAM, AL - LINWOOD, NC) 5x1 all NS powered east bound through the work area. (Note the ribbon rail that has been on the ground for well over a year now) 

Link to next update: 3/20/17 https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,4252927,4252927#msg-4252927

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/18 04:13 by NSSpike.

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> I can only assume it is a more solid temporary wall to replace the precast barriers currently lining US 78 between the hi-way and the relocated railroad tracks.

I don't know anything specific about this project, but yes, the retaining wall has to be a LOT more solid than those Jersey barriers, which are designed only to deflect motor vehicles, not to bear the weight of the earth and track materials plus the dynamic load of passing trains.

Based on my experience with similar projects, the contractor will probably install a temporary retaining wall (Sheet piles or soldier piles) between the shoofly and the existing track. Then they will construct the railroad bridge. The temp concrete barriers are to separate the highway traffic from the railroad.  I suspect that delays may be due to relocating underground utilties as relocating fiber always seems to take longer than expected.

Nice looking project.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/17 10:53 by kevink.

Sounds about on progress.  Took my state & NS 3 years to build 2 overpasses & 2 RR bridges over a creek & 4 miles of double track. Tax dollars at "work."

Lots of crossing closures & consolidations in my area.  Some crossings get overpasses, some are just redundant & eliminated, leaving traffic to venture to the remaining at grade crossing at some locations.  Having said that, wonder if any DOT has done a study to see if at grade crossing accident numbers go up as vehicle traffic is consolidated to fewer crossings?  I'll admit, the remaining crossings have received better protection, but you can't always fix stupid.