North Portal bridge railfan alert

west point · Nov 19, 2024

The main span of the bridge is coming down the Hudson. watch for the installation and get us a bunch of stills and videos.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...TS&cvid=bc06b3f77d84407498adf40f7797dca5&ei=9

Acela150 · Nov 19, 2024

The original Portal bridge was opened twice today (11/19) to prepare for the arrival. Both times it closed properly. It'll be intresting to see how it goes when the main span arrives.

west point · Nov 19, 2024

Acela150 said:
The original Portal bridge was opened twice today (11/19) to prepare for the arrival. Both times it closed properly. It'll be intresting to see how it goes when the main span arrives.

I really hope the weather is great so we can see that whole maneuver getting the span up river of the swing span. Would not be surprised if the passage will be the heaviest ever transit thru the present bridge opening.

Dates for all the work for transiting and installing will need close attention to dates and times.

Dutchrailnut · Nov 20, 2024

This span is one of 3 equal spans the other two can be seen in back of builder site.

PRR 60 · Nov 20, 2024

This is the first of three tied-arch spans to be delivered from the fabricator located near Albany. Each of the three arches span 400 feet. To put things in scale, each arch is 86 feet high, 57 feet wide, and weighs about 2700 tons (5.4 million pounds). The channel width will expand from about 90 to 270 feet and clearance above the river will be 50 feet.

It is a huge advantage to be able to fabricate and assemble the arches off site then barge them to the work location rather than stick building the spans on site.

Just-Thinking-51 · Nov 20, 2024

Ok, that last picture was an artistic rendering. Got me confused for a second.

AmtrakBlue · Nov 20, 2024

Just-Thinking-51 said:
Ok, that last picture was an artistic rendering. Got me confused for a second.

They work fast, don't they?

Metra Electric Rider · Nov 20, 2024

Dutchrailnut said:
This span is one of 3 equal spans the other two can be seen in back of builder site.View attachment 38366

That really is a lovely shot (kudos to the author).

west point · Nov 20, 2024

Are the 3 spans completely identical? I would guess the center span will be last so tugs can get by the new fixed bridge.

Widfara · Nov 21, 2024

west point said:
The main span of the bridge is coming down the Hudson. watch for the installation and get us a bunch of stills and videos.

Love to see that going under the George Washington Bridge.

Bernie · Nov 21, 2024

Here it is on site!

Acela150 · Nov 21, 2024

Made it to the area around 4am.

PRR 60 · Nov 21, 2024

west point said:
Are the 3 spans completely identical? I would guess the center span will be last so tugs can get by the new fixed bridge.

Would guess they are nearly identical. Span lengths, widths, and arch heights are the same. There may be some minor detailing variations to account for differing fixation to the pier caps and the profile the track across the bridge.

I'll be interested to see if they use the tides to help the lift and placement of the arches. The tidal difference varies from about 3.5 to 5 feet at that location, depending on the moon phases. It would be pretty slick to jack each arch to approximate height on the barge, float it into position at high tide, then let the outgoing tide lower it into place. It would save some heavy picking and lifting.

Touchdowntom9 · Nov 21, 2024

How long does it take to get these up on the support? Feels like it could be a day or a month from now but truthfully I have no idea

JuniusLivonius · Nov 21, 2024

I heard Portal Bridge was also opened on Tuesday to test the bridge in preparation for the move. I saw little media on the piece's arrival.

Insane luck or extremely good calculation? This was filmed from the PATH Lift Bridge. Uploader says it was just before the bridge was opened; the Portal North span was going under the Pulaski Skyway.

NE933 · Nov 22, 2024

This is actually the best and happiest news about Amtrak that has come up in a long time. Glad to hear and thank you for the photos and video.

NE933 · Nov 26, 2024

This just got fantastic coverage on WPIX NY. The span is already in place or close to it. Reps from NY Transit and Amtrak with their teams, to give a full rundown of where this project is and when they expect it to be in use: 2026. Mention is that the old span will be torn down and hopefully a 2nd new bridge can get built, bit so far there is no funding for that phase.

Bernie · Nov 27, 2024

Is there any plan to keep the old bridge in service as extra rails until funding is available for a second bridge? Or is that pointless as long as the Sawtooth Bridges are limited to two tracks?

west point · Nov 27, 2024

NE933 said:
This just got fantastic coverage on WPIX NY. The span is already in place or close to it. Reps from NY Transit and Amtrak with their teams, to give a full rundown of where this project is and when they expect it to be in use: 2026. Mention is that the old span will be torn down and hopefully a 2nd new bridge can get built, bit so far there is no funding for that phase.

Any video of the span being put in place? When will the next span arrive?

NE933 · Nov 28, 2024

You'd probably have to Google and YouTube it. The other 2 out of 3 total spans follow when their ready; they appear close.

AmtrakBlue · Nov 28, 2024

On Monday, 11/25/24, as my daughter was driving us to NYC I took a video hoping to get a good shot of the new span but I couldn’t get my phone high enough.

didn’t help that we were not in the right lane.

west point · Nov 28, 2024

This is speculation> From appearances the lifting mechanism was installed on the barge in 2 complete sections. Note all the equipment on the barge(s) that is not typical of any barge. The barge was then moved in sideways next to the pier. The bridge was then raised to above the pier's bent. There appears that there is a way to split the barge so it could slide in sideways next to the columns of the pier. The barge with the bridge section then moved sideways until bridge was directly over the column's bent. Lowered the bridge's east section onto the bent and barge could pull away. Probably barge is already on way back to Albany to get the west section.

The cantilever of the bridge is still somewhat a puzzle without any clear picture to analyze. Suspect there is some kind of temporary cribbing to support the heavy side that will be used to slide the heavy section into its final location. Relocating all that cribbing to the west side might be a time limitation for installing the west span. Central span no cribbing just lifting span, moving over, and the lowering into place.

What was originally a puzzle was all the tugs used to move the barge down the Hudson. With a split section suspect all the tugs probably were there to keep the barge(s?) together.

Dutchrailnut · Nov 29, 2024

The Span is at right Hight but must still be slid into place.
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/portal-north-bridge-reaches-key-milestone/

PRR 60 · Nov 29, 2024

It is more or less in place now.

Screengrab from job photo taken yesterday - 11/28/24:

North Portal bridge railfan alert

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