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[CNJRoss]

AP via WTOP radio5/24:
 

 $500,000 fix for $5 million bridge built 6 inches too low

 

NEWPORT, Del. (AP) — A fix costing nearly half a million dollars will finally begin this summer on a $5 million bridge that was built six inches too low.

 

Five years after Delaware transportation officials discovered the mistake, they’ve hired a new construction firm to raise the bridge high enough so that trains carrying two stacked containers can pass underneath. Those trains need at least 21 feet, 6 inches of clearance.

 

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[BillMagee]

from the article:

...They think they know what caused the error: surveyors mistakenly measured the clearance from the ground up, rather than from the top of the track’s steel rails, said Barry Benton, DelDOT’s state bridge engineer.

Yikes! No one, from the surveyor to the engineers back in the office, saw that? It's kind of fundamental. All clearance for railroads is measured from Top of Rail - abbreviated T/R on plans. That's a head shaker for anyone who has ever engineered anything around a railroad.

[CNJRoss]

The News Journal, New Castle, DE, 5/24:
 

Newport-area bridge too low; DelDOT must correct error

DelDOT says it will cost almost a half a million dollars to jack up crossing 6 inches

 

In 2011, the Delaware Department of Transportation spent more than $5 million to rebuild a bridge overpass near Newport to accommodate taller freight trains.

 

But soon after the project was completed, the agency discovered that it hadn’t been built quite high enough.

 

The most likely cause, said Barry Benton, Delaware Department of Transportation’s state bridge engineer, was a DelDOT surveying team that had mistakenly measured the clearance for the span from the ground rather than from the top of the tracks’ steel rails.

 

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