Federal Funds Earmarked to Upgrade Mississippi River Bridge in Iowa
2009-04-23
The swing-span portion of a Mississippi River bridge near Burlington, Iowa, is
expected to receive a "facelift" in part because of stimulus funding.
The bridge is on the Ottumwa Subdivision, milepost 204.66. The original bridge,
built in 1868, was the first all-metal bridge to cross the Mississippi River.
The bridge is 2,002 feet long and carries about 45 million gross tons of
traffic annually.
The section affected is a double-track bridge spanning the Mississippi River
and is part of the heavily traveled Denver-to-Chicago line. Truman-Hobbs
funding through the U.S. Coast Guard has allocated $26 million to replace a
section of the bridge that, when completed, will be a lift-span. In addition,
recent stimulus package money will add $28.7 million to help pay for the bridge
upgrade. The upgrade is significant because it will roughly double the amount
of width available for barges to pass through. The Coast Guard ranks the bridge
as third on its list of bridges for barge "strikes."
Jason Hale, manager, Structures Design, said he and others working on the
project were recently notified that they could begin separate permitting for
that portion of the bridge. Plans have been in the works at the direction of
the Coast Guard to make improvements to the bridge when Coast Guard
representatives notified BNSF about the availability of stimulus funds.
"This funding is important for a number of reasons," Hale said. "First, it will
allow us to maintain the reliability of our tracks, ensuring that our BNSF
employees and equipment can move more quickly and easily through the area.
Second, it will help river transportation continue to navigate smoothly through
this area."
Mark L. Johnson, director, Bridge Maintenance, Kansas City, Kan., said the
project is tentatively scheduled to go out for bid after the Coast Guard
finishes a project review and authorizes the request for proposals.
BNSF is also responsible for paying a portion of the upgrade to the lift bridge
as determined by statute. The approach spans to the moveable portion of the
bridge are in the design stages and will be considered for funding once
construction of the lift-span of the bridge is under way.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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