Re: Ex SP now UP American River Bridge on Fire
Author: Mike B
Date: 03-15-2007 - 20:06
Channel 10 has the best pix so far - chopper is still up. Bridge is not - has collapsed and fire folk are just trying to keep it from spreading.
At least the main span over the river seems to be on concrete piers. Fire is the approach trestle on the north (east) side. Hopefully the heat didn't damage the bridge steel any where it joins the trestle.
Amtrak is toast. Should be lots of buses on 80 for the next couple of weeks. Starlate will be even later due to freight interference.
How hard would it be to put Cal Northern back in service as a bypass? Any odd movements via Marysville or the connector track N of the river yet? Expect the Curtis Park folk will not be amused if UP starts pushing fleets thru on the old WP - they usually only get (quiet zone) light rail at night. How much traffic *can* the WP handle?
I think a lot of people will be surprised at how fast UP replaces that trestle. They'll probably have people out there tomorrow laying out the demo/reconstruction while fire is still watching hot spots (if not tonite!). For this kind of thing they won't bother with environmental stuff - they just fix it. I'm thinking a new bridge will be open in 2 weeks, tops. Maybe one.