A while back, we told you how they were going to raise the 11foot8 bridge in Durham, North Carolina. Now we can watch Norfolk Southern and the NC Railroad Company doing it. How do you raise a railroad trestle? They are jacking it up with a dozen hydraulic jacks resting on top of trellises. Really. Just scooch the whole railroad up eight inches, slip some metal shims in the space between the plinths and the bridge, and then set it down. Next, they have to regrade and align the tracks for some distance from the bridge to make it usable to trains. They have some remarkably specialized machinery for those jobs. I guess we'll have to call the this 12foot4 bridge from now on. -via Boing Boing
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Had the same issue locally, it was cheaper to lower the road versus the cost to raise the bridge.
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The music when the Ballast machine came on, was irritating
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Can't fix stupid. May as well fix the bridge.
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maximum bridge
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Some of the trucks will still run right into it. Raising 8" to 12'4" will still see a lot of vehicles getting opened like a can. With the Average Semi Being 13'6" high I don't think the can opener bridge is going away anytime soon.
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