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New Interstate 885 in Durham

Started by bob7374, August 19, 2014, 11:55:04 AM

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cowboy_wilhelm

Drove through there Monday, and it doesn't look like any demo work has started on the old RR overpass. Can't remember what the timeline was on that from the last news article.


sprjus4

Quote from: wdcrft63 on August 06, 2021, 06:01:19 PM
Quote from: LM117 on August 06, 2021, 08:09:30 AM
According to the project timeline, the EEC will open in December. Whether that'll actually happen or not remains to be seen...

https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/east-end-connector/Pages/default.aspx
As the timeline also shows, construction began in February 2015. If the road doesn't open until spring, that would be seven years to build a mile and a quarter of freeway. Even given the complexity of the project that is hard to justify.
As it is now, the HRBT expansion in Virginia is slated to be done by 2025, which started construction in 2020. That would involve the construction of over a mile of new 8 lane bridge, nearly a mile of two 2 lane underwater tunnels, and nearly 10 miles of landside widening from 4 to 8 lanes.

Then again... let's see how on schedule that goes. The I-64 High Rise Expansion began in 2018 and was supposed to be completed by 2021, but is now on schedule for late 2022 / early 2023.

LM117

Quote from: Rover_0 on August 09, 2021, 03:53:49 PM
I've gotten an email from the USRNC contact, and they said that they are in the process of adding the 2016-present USRNC decisions onto the big database sometime later this month.

CORRECTION: The USRNC member emailed me a PDF with the final decisions. Hopefully this link works.

Still no request for I-885...
“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

jdunlop

Quote from: LM117 on August 10, 2021, 06:40:58 AM
Quote from: Rover_0 on August 09, 2021, 03:53:49 PM
I've gotten an email from the USRNC contact, and they said that they are in the process of adding the 2016-present USRNC decisions onto the big database sometime later this month.

CORRECTION: The USRNC member emailed me a PDF with the final decisions. Hopefully this link works.

Still no request for I-885...

September.

machias

Drove through the for the first time in two years. Not really following the progress, I was surprised to see the I-885/NC 147 junction has not opened yet. One thing I did notice was a "SOUTH 885" marker just south of the (closed) interchange. And a lot of covered up guide panels.

AvDave829

It wont be opened till early 2022 now. The project is done minus the removal of the old RR bridge over US 70.  But 95% of the project is done.  The BGS have been covered for quite a while now and the I 885 shield has been up on 147 south.  They have a few on US 70 too but then covered them back up again

fillup420

Quote from: AvDave829 on August 23, 2021, 05:59:17 PM
It wont be opened till early 2022 now. The project is done minus the removal of the old RR bridge over US 70.  But 95% of the project is done.  The BGS have been covered for quite a while now and the I 885 shield has been up on 147 south.  They have a few on US 70 too but then covered them back up again

I drive under that old RR bridge every day and wonder, whats the hold up? just get on with removing it already... freakin CSX, man

AvDave829

I totally understand., It is aggravating every time I drive past it on either end. 

cowboy_wilhelm

I should have said temp bridge before instead of old bridge. Who owned/owns it anyway? Is it CSX or Norfolk Southern, or both? Both are involved as CSX serves the customers near Durham, but NS continues to Oxford. I keep hearing about CSX and not NS, though. Not sure why they need a double-track bridge for so little traffic, but I guess they want to keeps their operations separated and avoid trackage rights.

Did the SCL abandon the line from Durham to Henderson before construction started on Falls Lake?

VTGoose

Quote from: cowboy_wilhelm on August 24, 2021, 08:14:34 AM
I should have said temp bridge before instead of old bridge. Who owned/owns it anyway? Is it CSX or Norfolk Southern, or both? Both are involved as CSX serves the customers near Durham, but NS continues to Oxford. I keep hearing about CSX and not NS, though. Not sure why they need a double-track bridge for so little traffic, but I guess they want to keeps their operations separated and avoid trackage rights.

Did the SCL abandon the line from Durham to Henderson before construction started on Falls Lake?

CSX is the holdup. Per a news story earlier this year (now behind a paywall), the contractor building the new bridge was delayed due to winter weather. The bridge is finished, but it is up to CSX to lay the tracks. Once that is done, the old/temporary bridge can be demolished.
"Get in the fast lane, grandma!  The bingo game is ready to roll!"

LM117

Quote from: VTGoose on August 24, 2021, 08:54:30 AM
Quote from: cowboy_wilhelm on August 24, 2021, 08:14:34 AM
I should have said temp bridge before instead of old bridge. Who owned/owns it anyway? Is it CSX or Norfolk Southern, or both? Both are involved as CSX serves the customers near Durham, but NS continues to Oxford. I keep hearing about CSX and not NS, though. Not sure why they need a double-track bridge for so little traffic, but I guess they want to keeps their operations separated and avoid trackage rights.

Did the SCL abandon the line from Durham to Henderson before construction started on Falls Lake?

CSX is the holdup. Per a news story earlier this year (now behind a paywall), the contractor building the new bridge was delayed due to winter weather. The bridge is finished, but it is up to CSX to lay the tracks. Once that is done, the old/temporary bridge can be demolished.

CSX is notorious for being a huge PITA to deal with. I have yet to hear of any town or contractor that has had a good experience with them.
“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

tjcreasy

#361
The only actual work CSX is responsible for is the mainline tie-ins on both ends when the mainline is restored. This is very minor work that happens at the very end of the project, maybe 3 days worth of work. The rest of the work is being performed by NS and NCDOT's contractor. Sorry guys.

There is a two track bridge for the CSX and NS mainlines. Both railroads have interests north and south of the subject bridge.

Yes, the LCL did in fact abandoned that segment of track you're referring to.

fillup420

I saw track workers laying ballast on the new bridge today, hopefully a sign of progress

tolbs17

Looks like more still needs to be done.....

10th st connector took roughly 5 years.

Now this is almost 7 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d10WJVfUE0s

bob7374

I've posted a couple photos taken by Adam Prince along US 70 East/Future I-885 South, one showing why the Connector is still not open, the still standing temporary railroad bridge behind the new one:


The other is at: https://malmeroads.net/ncfutints/fut885.html#photos

tolbs17

Isn't the construction time the same to the I-76 NJ 42 and I-295 interchange?

tolbs17

Aren't railroad bridges expensive and take forever to build?

Henry

Quote from: jdunlop on August 12, 2021, 11:57:48 AM
Quote from: LM117 on August 10, 2021, 06:40:58 AM
Quote from: Rover_0 on August 09, 2021, 03:53:49 PM
I've gotten an email from the USRNC contact, and they said that they are in the process of adding the 2016-present USRNC decisions onto the big database sometime later this month.

CORRECTION: The USRNC member emailed me a PDF with the final decisions. Hopefully this link works.

Still no request for I-885...

September.
Hopefully, they remembered this time.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Dirt Roads

Quote from: tolbs17 on November 01, 2021, 08:10:24 AM
Aren't railroad bridges expensive and take forever to build?

Not when the railroad is constructing them.  There's a newer two-track railroad bridge on the North Carolina Rail Road over NC-54 in Research Triangle Park was completed by Norfolk Southern about 2002 or 2003.  When the Triangle Transit Authority (now Triangle Transit, dba Go Triangle) was engineering a nearly-identical structure parallel to this one, it was projected to cost over $24M in 2005 dollars.  As a comparison, somebody came back and reported that the NCRR structure cost less than $9M.  It highlights the age-old argument that Federal regulations make things cost more, but doesn't fully explain the difference.  Time is money, and the real reason for the lower cost is that the railroad gets those big projects completed quickly.

On the other hand, railroads are happy to let other agencies construct new railroad bridges and roadbeds using the agency's turnkey contractor.  Working in close proximity to the railroad requires "track time" (permission to be working under FRA Roadway Worker Protection rules, which allows work on/near the tracks during times when trains aren't running).  If the new bridge will generate more income, you'll get plenty of help from the railroad; if the new bridge is liability improvement (for instance, grade separation), you'll get cooperation from the railroad; if the new bridge is simply moving over a bit, the railroad doesn't have much incentive to help;  if the new bridge is a nuisance, the railroad has no incentive to cooperate.  Since this trackage involves branch lines for both CSX and Norfolk Southern, the project probably falls somewhere in the middle.  [I believe that CSX dispatches this trackage as part of its Durham and Northern subdivision, but I don't have my timetables handy to check them].

Dirt Roads

^Clarification.  The CSX Florence Timetable shows the Joyland Lead as part of the Aberdeen Subdivision.  I'm assuming that the Durham and Northern is now mostly abandoned, and that the control of train movements from Durham Yard north into Joyland and beyond is now under the control of the Norfolk Southern.  The way it is shown in the timetable indicates the CSX trackage is operated like an industrial spur (which is exactly how NS would treat it).  Anyhow, train movements across I-885 would thus be under Norfolk Southern dispatching (perhaps as part of the yard limits).

tjcreasy

Track work is complete. Bridge demo will be underway in short order.

wdcrft63

Quote from: tjcreasy on November 02, 2021, 01:20:07 PM
Track work is complete. Bridge demo will be underway in short order.
But winter's coming, so final pavement can't be laid until spring. 7 years to build a mile and half of expressway.

bob7374

Here's the news report with all the information about the latest delay to next spring, due to: the demolition will not start until December, it will take 6 weeks to complete, completion in January means that it will be too cold to put final pavement down in the bridge area, final striping of the entire route will not take place until all the paving is completed:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article255474246.html

"The completion date has now been pushed back at least four times, mostly related to the railroad bridges. The new bridges were supposed to be completed by the end of 2018"

snowc

Quote from: bob7374 on November 02, 2021, 09:51:31 PM
Here's the news report with all the information about the latest delay to next spring, due to: the demolition will not start until December, it will take 6 weeks to complete, completion in January means that it will be too cold to put final pavement down in the bridge area, final striping of the entire route will not take place until all the paving is completed:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article255474246.html

"The completion date has now been pushed back at least four times, mostly related to the railroad bridges. The new bridges were supposed to be completed by the end of 2018"
Jeesums crimeny! That pavement must be :ded: and all grey after 4 years! :banghead:

Roadsguy

Quote from: snowc on November 06, 2021, 01:57:28 PM
Quote from: bob7374 on November 02, 2021, 09:51:31 PM
Here's the news report with all the information about the latest delay to next spring, due to: the demolition will not start until December, it will take 6 weeks to complete, completion in January means that it will be too cold to put final pavement down in the bridge area, final striping of the entire route will not take place until all the paving is completed:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article255474246.html

"The completion date has now been pushed back at least four times, mostly related to the railroad bridges. The new bridges were supposed to be completed by the end of 2018"
Jeesums crimeny! That pavement must be :ded: and all grey after 4 years! :banghead:

Have they already put down the final wearing course on the entire road, or has none of it been done yet? I'd have thought they'd wait and do it all at once.
Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.



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