Batten Kill Railroad Bridge Rehabilitation

JMT provided preliminary and final design, PS&E construction services, and construction inspection services for rehabilitation of the Batten Kill Railroad bridge over the Battenkill River, NYS Route 372, and Mill Street in Greenwich, NY. The five-span, 300-foot-long bridge, also known as the Main Street Train Bridge, consists of two through girder and two deck plate girder approach spans with a truss main span.

The rehabilitation design included solutions to improve vertical clearance over State Route 372 that would enhance motorist visibility. The structure was raised by two feet over the roadway by installing a w-beam over the existing steel bent system located adjacent to Route 372. The adjacent abutment and concrete pier were extended vertically to achieve the new required rail profile. In addition to raising the bridge, the scope included structural steel repairs to the primary members and truss stringers, bearing replacement, concrete substructure repairs to the abutments and wingwalls, and applying a concrete penetrating sealer to the substructure.

The project required extensive coordination with Batten Kill Railroad Company during design to gain approval of the repairs, construction sequence, and track outages. The rehabilitation was designed using the latest version of the AREMA Manual and the NYSDOT Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction. Since the funding for the project was provided by a New York state grant, the project was let with bid alternatives to meet the construction budget requirements.

Engineering design services included field survey, railroad engineering, rail track geometric engineering, utility engineering and railroad coordination, environmental permitting, structural design, specification development, constructability analysis, construction cost estimates, and construction engineering.