California High-Speed Rail Construction Update – Spring 2023

despite an unprecedented rainy season Crews have continued progress on the nation's first High-Speed Rail Line including the completion of one of the Project's signature structures this is the spring 2023 construction update signs of The Season's historic rain can be seen everywhere along the high-speed rail alignment but most notably where flooding became a major concern in Kings and Tulare counties the authority and construction contractor dragato's Flatiron joint venture continue to work with local agencies in coordination with the California governor's office of emergency services to provide assistance High-Speed Rail has provided k-rail embankment and equipment to help with road closures and to build levees to prevent flooding in certain areas The Authority also coordinated with local Dairy Farmers to use High-Speed Rail property to transport and relocate livestock Crews reopened Whitley Avenue which was recently closed for High-Speed Rail construction it will serve as an additional evacuation route for the residents in the city of Corcoran The Authority will continue doing everything it can to assess short and long-term challenges flooding may have on the project and the surrounding communities back in Fresno County the southern Gateway into the City of Fresno the cedar Viaduct is now complete the signature double arches can be seen crossing State Route 99. more than 3.6 million pounds of steel rebar and more than 14 000 cubic yards of concrete was used to complete the structure the cedar Viaduct is almost three quarters of a mile long two underpasses continue to take shape in downtown Fresno [Music] working on the east side of the Tulare Street underpass they have moved Utilities in the area they also excavated dirt and installed Shoring supports that help prevent the movement of soil that will help with construction of the future underpass and new bridge for the Union Pacific Railroad on Ventura Street more utilities are being moved and Shoring is being put in to make way for the underpass earlier this year the G Street bridge that spans over the Ventura Street underpass was completed and is now open to traffic at the Belmont Avenue Grade separation the abutment wall on the west side has been completed as well as a few columns crews are now working on the bent cap a bent cap is an intermediate support for the girders and transfers loads to the columns a number of grade separation projects are moving along and construction Package 2 3 which spans Fresno and Kings counties both Dover Avenue and the Idaho Avenue Grade separations in Kings counties are paved ready to be striped and open to traffic to the north and Fresno County the Elkhorn Avenue Grade separation is paved ready to be striped and open for future traffic at Davis Avenue Crews post-tensioned the bridge and are now working on the back walls iron workers have tied rebar and concrete has been poured to form the barrier rails on top of the structure the roadway will be paved in the coming weeks 284 of 978 Precast girders have been placed at the Hanford Viaduct iron workers there have also been busy tying rebar for the deck and walls over the last few months concrete has been placed for the diaphragms which provide bracing for girders set between each span of columns [Music] earlier this year the last two of 248 precast concrete girders were placed for the pergola section of the Conejo Viaduct iron workers and Carpenters are now working on the upper Edge beams that's the portion of the structure that provides support and ties the girders together driving along State Route 43 you can see more than 150 000 cubic yards of embankment field that has been placed to form the guideway on both sides of the tide Arch Bridge the guideway is where future high-speed trains will travel before they cross over the highway and traffic the 22-mile stretch of construction package 4 is nearly complete at the McCombs Road Great separation work is going on to tie the existing McCombs road to the Future overpass Crews have removed portions of the old road and are hauling Aggregates to connect the roadway to the completed structure the roadway will be paved striped and open to traffic later this spring the 153-foot long Peterson Road Bridge and 120 foot Long Pond Road Bridge are now complete these elevated structures will take High-Speed Rail trains over the existing roadways into Kern County the largest structure in cp4 the Wasco Viaduct is nearing completion as well more than 240 000 pounds of steel and 800 cubic yards of concrete were installed in the last few months Crews also completed the installation of the Expansion Joints Expansion Joints are separations between two sections that will allow for temperature-induced expansion or contraction without cracking or damaging the structure the Wasco Viaduct is more than two thousand feet long and will carry trains through Kern County and over the BNSF Freight track with winter rain finally giving way to Summer Sun work is expected to ramp up even more you can stay up to date with the latest videos and photos of construction on the newly redesigned build hsr.com

Channel: California High-Speed Rail Authority

Views: 105,405

Keywords: California High-Speed Rail Authority, California, High-Speed, Rail, Authority

Id: luX35wVJt84

Length: 5min 58sec (358 seconds)

Published: Thu May 11 2023