We don’t often get to see this type of building anymore. Treasure it. It was how America was built.
UP comes out smokin' on rail fix
Company plans to take just 16 days to build new bridge at fire site.
By Tony Bizjak - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, March 23, 2007
As a column of black smoke rose like an exclamation point above Union Pacific's burning trestle in Sacramento last week, state officials launched their own firestorm of e-mails and conference calls.
The message from the Governor's Office was simple:
Do whatever possible to help UP rebuild its freight line to ensure the "critical corridor reopens as quickly as possible," said Eric Lamoureux of the state Office of Emergency Services.
Reacting with equal urgency, and even before the flames died, UP rolled an armada of trucks in four Western states loaded with precast construction materials, all bound for Sacramento.
In a flash, an astonishing construction site has emerged on the north bank of the American River near downtown Sacramento.
The cause of the fire that destroyed 1,400 feet of wooden trestle March 15 during the evening commute has yet to be determined.
Working night and day, seven days a week in 12-hour shifts, a crew of 135 -- headed by a travel-weary UP veteran from Omaha, Neb. -- is erecting a curving concrete and steel rail bridge from the ground up. The goal is 16 days.
