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Herricks Road
Mineola, New York
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Herricks Road
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Cast-in-place box beam construction
results in an economical grade separation project. |
Ranked as the most dangerous highway-railway crossing in the U.S.
by the National Transportation Safety Board, this hazard was eliminated
through the joint efforts of the New York State Department of Transportation
and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). The completed Herricks Road
crossing in Mineola on Long Island, which sees 200 trains and 20,000
vehicles pass each day, required temporary structures, tight construction
clearances, and extensive environmental and traffic controls.
The $25 million project began in 1994 with staged construction
of two railway detour tracks south of the existing LIRR’s
Babylon Line tracks in a 4-foot (12-m) deep depression. Then, as
trains were shifted to the temporary tracks, the old tracks were
removed and 4-lane Herricks Road was dropped to a temporary track
level.
Construction then began on a cast-in-place concrete box beam bridge
over the roadway. The combination of LIRR’s restrictive 1%
vertical grade at the bridge approaches and truck clearance requirements
for the road mandated the use of a shallow bridge superstructure.
Typical ballast and tie track was precluded due to its added depth
and weight, requiring a stronger, and necessarily, deeper superstructure.
Therefore, a direct fixation fastening system was chosen, with the
concrete bridge deck serving as direct support for the rails. This
solved the design and site constraints, while reducing future maintenance
requirements. The rails are attached by fasteners screwed into a
nylon insert embedded in the concrete. Nylon inserts were selected
because previous installations with steel inserts rusted, while
nylon’s laboratory tests for pullout and torque showed convincing
results.
The last steps involved widening of the new bridge from 33 to 46
feet (10 to 14 m) to make room for a third track and the final paving
of Herricks Road. The project was finished in late 1999.
Project Credits
Owner: Long Island Rail Road, Jamaica, NY
Engineer: BAC Killam, Inc./Vollmer Associates/Hill International,
New York, NY
Construction Management: Berger Lehman Associates PC, Rye, NY
Contractor: CAB Associates, Brooklyn, NY |
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