Submitted by Ames Construction Inc.

The design-build of this 36-mile-long railroad spur included construction of five bridges. Under an aggressive schedule, crews moved 9.6 million cu yd of earthwork in nine months. The project included onsite processing of 382,000 cu yd of material for production of sub-ballast.

Bull Mountain Rail Spur
Bull Mountain Rail Spur

The bridges are all three-span structures utilizing precast concrete girders and cast-in-place footings, piers, abutments and decks. Three of the bridges provide crossings for county roads over the rail spur. The other two bridges provide crossing for the rail spur over the top of state highways. The new rail spur ties into existing BNSF Railway mainline tracks near Broadview, Mont.

Project Team: Yellowstone and Musselshell counties, Mont., $105 million

Owner: Global Rail Group
Contractor: Ames Construction Inc.
Design Firm: TranSystems
Start: July 2008
Finish: Aug. 2009