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Eight concrete beams were lifted into place Thursday, June 11, for the new County 52 bridge over the railroad tracks west of Beaver Creek.
A crane operator from the Barnhart crane division and crews from Prahm Construction of Slayton worked between train passings to set the beams into place in one day.
Four 106-foot-long concrete beams weighing 93,000 pounds each were lifted into place above the Burlington Northern Sante Fe railroad.
Four other concrete beams were also lifted from semitrailers and put into place for the south side bridge approach. The north side had previously been completed.
Preparations are now underway for decking on the project that has been delayed for months.
Most recently, county officials waited three months for permission from BNSF to lift the concrete beam bridge forms into place.
Railroad officials granted permission to work over the rail line last week, but high wind conditions delayed the work until Thursday, June 11.
Eight semitrailer trucks brought the concrete beams to the site, Barnhart crane service put them in place, and Prahm workers anchored them into the concrete abutments.
Work paused periodically for trains to pass the construction site.
“There are between 15 to 20 trains a day that use that rail,” said county engineer Mark Sehr.
The bridge construction is still months away from being finished.
Prahm Construction will spend several weeks preparing the areas between the concrete beams for the poured-concrete decking.
The project was delayed earlier this year to wait for BNSF to grant permission for work to be completed in the railroad right of way.
This followed a delay in May 2019 when no one bid on the work.
An August 2019 rebid garnered four bids with Prahm Construction providing the lowest at $1.292 million.
The new bridge design will be two lanes with a 10-ton vehicle carrying capacity. The bridge will also be wider and longer than the previous space at 29 feet wide and 106 feet long.
The original one-lane wood pile bridge was damaged in a July 2017 fire.
Sehr was able to tap into an emergency state bridge repair grant program in 2019 with commissioners approving $388,000 earlier this year from reserves to complete the project.
Without delays, the replacement was projected to take 10 to 12 weeks to complete.
Sehr anticipates the new bridge located in Martin Township to open to traffic later this year.