According to engineering reports there is no need for excessive concern over the condition of bridges along the route of the Coos Bay Rail Link. Bob Melbo, Rail Planner at ODOT Rail was kind enough to research some pictures taken by Terry Falcone, of Lakeside, while he was fishing near the vicinity of one of the bridges.
Mary:
I’m pleased to report that the deteriorated conditions captured in the photos you emailed to me have been noted in reports covering inspections of this structure in 2005 and again as part of a complete line bridge assessment in 2008. In fact, color photos of what appear to be the same defects pictured in your attachments are included as part of the 2005 inspection. The 2008 assessment concluded that the steel structure had about 10 years remaining in its life cycle and that it was sufficiently sound to carry today’s larger standard rail car weighing 286,000 pounds at 25 MPH. The cost to repair this structure was estimated at roughly $100,000 in 2009 dollars.
Although this bridge is clearly on the Port of Coos Bay’s radar screen (as are others), I will forward your emailed photos to Dan Lovelady as well as the information and photos from the 2005 inspection. I believe the Port of Coos Bay already has the 2005 inspection data but I have excerpted the information relevant to the steel structure at North (Ten-Mile) Lake, Milepost 750.46, for ease of reference. I’m attaching the information to this email and I’m copying Mr. Lovelady at the same time.
The one thing that puzzles me is the date of 1907 cast into the plate riveted to one of the girders visible in the pictures you sent..
Records reflect this bridge was constructed in 1915, which conforms with the line’s initial opening for through service in 1916. The only explanation I can offer is that the components were manufactured in 1907 but not immediately put to use. It’s possible this 60-foot deck plate girder bridge, which was a fairly common type of bridge in this era, remained in the manufacturer’s inventory for some time before being sold. Or, Southern Pacific may have purchased it for intended use
somewhere on its system and, instead, the span remained in the bridge department’s inventory pending selection of a needful site. Construction of the Coos Bay Branch likely began in 1913 as the first section, from Eugene to Vaughn, was opened for traffic on April 15, 1914. The mystery of why a 1907 date plate is affixed to a bridge installed in 1915 would be interesting to unravel.Thank you again for contacting us.
Pictures below are of the Ten Mile bridge and similar conditions are reported from Tahkenitch and Clear Lake.
I’m not an engineer, but I was an iron worker in my youth, and It would be criminal to ask a climber to mount anything of metal in the condition I see here. I understand Melbo is telling us ten years life from 2008, whats the cost to built a new bridge at that time, add that cost to the growing total consumed by the port, man those logs are getting expensive. A friend of mine a former marine, excuse me,(once a marine always a marine), said he was a comptroller and questions like that we’re his specialty, math will tell the truth he says.
I think your auto / truck / choo choo inspection vehicle was on the track today. For several weeks there have been trees across the tracks on Highway 126 between mile marker 10 and 9 traveling west – between Mapleton and Florence. Still there today. A truck did not drive over them. Rail wheels did not pass over them. However, about another 2 miles west, just befiore the long and old Cushman bridge, there sat a small white truck with rail wheels. So, maybe a full rail and bridge report soon.