Prosperity Mining needed a railroad spur to connect their facilities to an existing line. Lochmueller designed four bridges along the proposed railroad spur on a tight time frame to meet agreements made between a utility company and CSX Transportation. All four bridges were designed, detailed, reviewed by CSX, and constructed in 10 months.
The bridges were designed for Cooper E 80 Loads and analyzed for American Railway Engineering Association’s (AREA) Alternative Live Loading. The bridges were designed to meet AREA specifications as well as the CSX Transportation’s Criteria for Ballast Deck Railroad Bridges. Each of the bridges used adjacent special prestressed concrete box beams; the sizes of the beams varied depending on the length of the spans. Close coordination was required between Lochmueller and CSX officials.
The bridges designed included:
Conger Creek Bridge
The bridge spanning Conger Creek was a 3-span (33’; 33’; 33’), prestressed concrete adjacent box beam bridge.
Harbin Creek Bridge
The bridge spanning Harbin Creek was a 2-span (60’; 60’) prestressed concrete adjacent box beam bridge.
Robb Creek, South Y, Bridge
The bridge spanning Robb Creek on the South Y of the railroad spur was a 3-span (45’; 45’; 45’), prestressed concrete adjacent box beam bridge. The railroad alignment at the location of this bridge was in a sharp horizontal curve. For ease of construction and to keep costs down, each span was built along its short chord. This provided the effects of a curved bridge with the simplicity of a tangent bridge.
Robb Creek, North Y, Bridge
The bridge spanning Robb Creek on the North Y of the railroad spur was a 3-span, prestressed concrete adjacent box beam bridge.
