Swing Span Is Refitted Over Intensive Four-Day Schedule
The 1905 shaft-driven Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway swing bridge over Bayou Boeuf near Morgan City, La., has begun a new life after an intensive four-day project that converted it into a computerized, hydraulically operated crossing with opening times cut from 17 minutes to seven.
During a 96-hour window that ended at midnight on Sept. 24, OCCI Inc., Fulton, Mo., replaced the bridge’s 240-ton, riveted, steel-plate, swing-girder span with a 200-ton, welded plate girder. “This is the most intense-schedule project I’ve worked on in 25 years,” says Ted Kettlewell, OCCI executive vice president. “When working a rail project, there is no such thing as not finishing on time, unless you don’t want to get any more work.”