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 WSOR News Archive Wisconsin DOT Releases Bridge Study January 2007 — The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has completed an analysis of existing conditions of its system of publicly-owned railroad bridges throughout Wisconsin. The study titled, “Impact of Railcar Weight Change on Wisconsin Bridges,” investigated a sampling of bridges in southern Wisconsin to determine their condition and reconstruction needs in order to accommodate today’s heavier weight railcars. The State of Wisconsin owns and manages close to 600 miles of railroad corridors, including over 200 publicly-owned railroad bridges, a majority which are over 80 years old and rated for 263,000 pound rail cars. With recent increases in demand for rail service nationwide and the increasing need for hauling more volume in a single rail car, 286,000 pound rail cars are now today’s industry standard. The study, which involved private and public sector engineers, including engineers at the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad, analyzed in-depth the existing condition of 26 bridges in the Milwaukee and Monroe, WI areas. Results showed that over the next five years, these 26 bridges will require over $2.9 Million in repair and rehabilitation needs in order to reach a design capacity of sustaining constant loads of 286,000 pound railcars. The study further determined that if these same design load criteria were applied to all bridges systemwide, WisDOT faces more than $24 Million in needed repairs and upgrades to its railroad bridges. "I am pleased that WisDOT and WSOR now have a documented need for rehabilitating our railroad bridges," stated Bill Gardner, President & CEO for Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. "The challenge(s) that lies ahead includes prioritizing our bridge improvements in key areas as well as seek out all appropriate funding sources for conducting these improvements in a timely fashion," he added. With this study now complete, the WSOR plans to convince state lawmakers that additional funding for freight railroad improvements is needed and that if provided, additional public and private investment can be leveraged. WSOR’s 8+3 Plan is a proposal to the state legislature and to Governor Doyle and his administration that addresses the shortcomings of the Freight Railroad Preservation Program, which if approved in the 2007/2009 State Biennial Budget will include annual funding for railroad bridge projects. The WSOR and its rail industry partners are campaigning for additional funding to address our infrastructure crisis. The future of over 180 rail-served industries that employ over 19,400 people in 21 Wisconsin counties depend on this. |