A.H. Beck installs four shafts on a 65-foot bridge for a railroad on an active rail line in Sunderland, Vermont.
This Railroad Bridge was completed in the countryside of Southwest Vermont over a pristine brook in Sunderland. The Owner was the Vermont Agency of Transportation; the General Contractor was S&R Corporation out of Lowell, Massachusetts. This work involved installing only four shafts to a 65-foot bridge, with depths ranging from 60 to 70 feet, but its construction posed some unique challenges. The location of each of the four shafts was directly on either side of an active railway. Additionally, there was a public road right adjacent to the Railway. Careful planning and staging of equipment and materials was necessary to prevent impact traffic on the railroad or roadway.
The drilled shafts were excavated using Bentonite slurry and then a full length permanent casing was installed per the design. All construction activities had to be coordinated to work within short timeframe windows in between trains on an active rail line.
