Knight provided construction management services to Union Pacific Railroad for the Wilmington High-Speed Rail and Kankakee River Bridge that included extensive bridge construction over the Kankakee River and Forked Creek.
A 16-span temporary structure was used to accommodate construction of a new 604 foot – eight-span bridge stretching across the Kankakee River. To provide soil retention at the Kankakee River Bridge, drilled shaft H-pile retaining walls utilizing both a cast in place concrete face with tiebacks and precast sections were installed.
The project also included five utility relocations of watermain and sanitary sewer, 4 of which were jacked and bored and one which was installed in-stream across Forked Creek and other new railroad bridges were also constructed as part of the project, a 197 foot – three-span bridge over Forked Creek and a single span bridge over Water Street.
Railroad Structures
3
Eight-Span Bridge
604 FT
Grade Crossings
3
Record Completion
Phase 1 in 90 days
SHARING BEST PRACTICES WITH AREMA
The project was such as success that the Knight and UPRR team delivered a presentation on the project at the 2019 AREMA conference. The presentation highlighted safety, construction techniques and design solutions for project challenges.
The three new structures allowed for 3200 feet of new track and signal work as well as three ADA compliant railroad crossing and signal work to take place within the 2 mile stretch of project limits.
Communication was key! There were a lot of issues that were resolved throughout the project just by being proactive and communicating with people. Not so much via email but face to face and telephone calls. I am a big proponent of that.
Brett Westcott
Project Engineer
