North America’s Railroad CN completing multi-year Oliver Bridge rehabilitation project
CN will complete the major maintenance and strengthening project on the Oliver railroad bridge over the St. Louis River between Duluth, Minnesota and Oliver, Wisconsin prior to the end of the year.
Major work requiring road closures is complete and the road will be open permanently starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 21st.
The bridge strengthening project, part of CN’s 2016 and 2017 capital programs, is a major investment in the continuing safety and efficiency of CN’s Wisconsin and Minnesota railroad network.
The bridge work over the past two years included:
· Full replacement of two 90-foot spans at the east and west ends of the bridge
· Steel strengthening of 30 bridge spans
· Full replacement of the 47-foot-long Span 1 on the east end of the bridge
· Installation of 1,708 linear feet of new solid timber deck to carry the rail About the bridge:
· Double deck 1,935 foot-long steel, multi-span bridge
· Railroad upper deck with two-lane highway below
· 31 plate girder spans and one through truss span
· Carries approximately 20 trains a day connecting Duluth and Oliver
· Built in 1910 connecting Spirit Lake Transfer Railway in Minnesota with the Interstate Transfer Railway in Wisconsin
Across its network, CN plans to spend C$2.7 billion on rail infrastructure and equipment to raise network efficiency, support growth and further strengthen safety. Approximately C$1.6 billion will be spent on railroad infrastructure, such as the Oliver Bridge.
CN is a true backbone of the economy whose team of approximately 23,000 railroaders transports more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid- America. For more information about CN, visit the Company’s website at www.cn.ca
