Thursday brought noticeable progress in work on BNSF overpass across Snyder Street in New Albany

Work to replace the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad overpass at Snyder St. in New Albany made dramatic progress Thursday, April 14, 2022.

BNSF construction crews closed Snyder St. to traffic and started the work more than two months ago. Parts of the bridge being replaced were said to be more than a century old.

More than 20 trains a day normally run on the tracks through New Albany. Thus, construction crews had to work around the schedules of the freight trains.

Construction crews worked for several weeks replacing elements of the bridge while the trains rumbled by.

New overpass tracks under construction

There was some grumbling by motorists for whom the work seemed agonizingly slow. Those accustomed to using Snyder Street to cross the railroad right-of-way had to use other routes.

On Thursday, however, several million dollars-worth of BNSF equipment and a few dozen workers were busy at the site.

All of the decking and tracks had been removed by mid-day, and no trains rolled through New Albany.

“Man-powered” tools at work on Snyder St.

Men worked fabricating sections of rail with 10-pound sledgehammers. Several pre-fabricated sections of reinforced concrete were hauled into place by a big crane that ran on the tracks east of bridge. In one of the photos with this story the crane can be seen trundling a multiple-ton concrete fabrication called a “headwall” toward its place in the bridge structure.

When the sun went down about 7:30 p.m. the work continued with powerful lights.

Before midnight Thursday, Mr. Buffet’s freight trains could again be heard thundering through New Albany.

There is still work to be done to complete the Snyder Street overpass. None of those working Thursday would give us a guess as to when it would be completely finished.

BNSF crane does heavy lifting

It is safe to say it will be sooner than it was early in February.

BNSF is one of the largest freight railroads in America. It operates on 32,500 miles of track in 28 U.S. states. It employs 35,000 people.

The railroad is wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska. The legendary Warren Buffet, now 91 years old, is the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.

The vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway is Charlie Munger, who celebrated his 98th birthday New Year’s Day.

All the folks we saw working yesterday were somewhat younger.

The president and CEO of BNSF is Kathryn M. “Katie” Farmer, the railroad’s first ever female president. She is a mere child, just 52 years old.

BNSF crews working night shift at Snyder St.
Photo: Joe Wilson

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