Portsmouth Branch Activity

MEC407 wrote:Recent article in the Press Herald states that the bridge cables are already showing signs of wear and twisting/stretching. Hope they can figure that out quickly and put a stop to it, otherwise this will be a very high-maintenance bridge. The initial price tag already makes it the most expensive bridge in ME or NH history, and by a pretty wide margin too.

[quote="At 4:21 pm on March 30, 2018 In an article entitled "Celebration, lingering disputes as new Maine-NH bridge opens to traffic", Alex LaCasse of the Portsmouth Herald staff"]

Celebration, lingering disputes as new Maine-NH bridge opens to traffic

Rich Beauchesne | Portsmouth Herald
The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge opened Friday afternoon to a line of vehicles waiting to cross. It replaces an old one connecting Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, along the Route 1 Bypass over the Piscataqua River.

Kittery’s Anita Bunting was born in 1940, the year the original Sarah Mildred Long Bridge opened.

On Friday, as the new span was set to finally open at 3 p.m., after seven months of delays and a year and a half after the the original bridge was closed permanently, Bunting and her husband, Russ, a Vietnam veteran, were lined up in their Ford pickup truck. They were the first members of the public to drive from the New Hampshire side across the new Sarah Long Bridge, which again connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery on the Route 1 Bypass.

“We’re so happy today,” Anita Bunting said as she excitedly waited for construction workers and state police to remove the barriers on the bypass leading to the bridge’s approach. “I’ve always considered this my bridge.”

The Buntings were among dozens of motorists and at least one bicyclist among the first group to cross the new bridge after Maine Department of Transportation officials opened the $163 million span.

The delays in the opening have been the subject of much dispute between MDOT and general contractor Cianbro Corporation.

Prior the bridge opening, local media on Friday morning took part in a tour of the bridge’s control tower and span. During the tour, Maine DOT spokesman Ted Talbot said department officials would not discuss the reasons the bridge did not open sooner.

“We’re not going to be addressing anything to do with the delay today,” Talbot said. “Issues remaining between Cianbro and ourselves; there’s nothing we’re going to do in the press before the process begins. Keeping in mind this bridge is going to be lasting 100 years, so the six, seven month delay; it’s really important to keep that in context.”

Cianbro’s contract allows for DOT to levy $1,000 per-day penalties for every day the bridge remains closed to vehicles beyond the original opening day and for additional per-day penalties if the entire project is not complete beyond June 1, which entails installing railroad tracks on the Maine side of the bridge and landscaping on both sides of the span. [/quote]

The "wavy ropes" issue is talked about beginning in the 17th paragraph of the story.

Officials are assuring the new bridge is safe, though concerns have been raised by the public since MDOT announced in February that the new bridge’s center span was experiencing a “wavy rope” condition after the bridge was commissioned. Folsom has previously stated the condition will likely expedite the need to replace wire cables that lift the center span, potentially within a few years, much earlier than the expected 25-year life span. He said MDOT has ordered a full set of extra cables at a cost of roughly $250,000, plus the cost of labor, to have ready when a replacement is required.

Michael Hawkins, a principal with the ropes manufacturer Hardesty and Hanover, wrote a letter to MDOT chief engineer Joyce Taylor on March 2 certifying the wavy ropes did not affect safe operation of the bridge and he said he believed “contractor installation operations” were at least a partial cause of the wavy rope condition but also stated a “major factor” was the size of the drums’ grooves the rope passes through.

On Friday Hawkins said the condition affecting the 1¼ inch-diameter steel ropes was not initially noticed because the bridge was in the middle position.

“It’s a marrying of the rope with the groove, so in the future if the rope is replaced it’ll be given the dimensions of groove,” Hawkins said. “It’s not the full length of the rope that is wavy. When the bridge is all the way up; the counterweights are all the way down, you would see that condition on some of the ropes on the side. If you put a straight edge on the rope, between the edges of the rope, it’s a little more than 1¼ inches at all times for a portion of the rope.”

Folsom said the wavy rope condition was still under investigation, but he believed the size of the grooves were a likely cause.

“That’s the best estimation we have now,” Folsom said. “We’re still working through it.”

Read more of this story at Bangor Daily News' web site

There was some kind of maintenance/work vehicle being loaded onto the branch at Rockingham Junction when I passed it around 3:30. Presumably for green st work.

The Green st. Crossing rebuild is underway and Maine Trak is cutting in the switch off the Newington industrial track to connect the new bridge. There are 7 Boise and 1 Tyco in the yard to deliver.

thank you, Jaymac

Any idea when the next freight will make its way down or up the branch to/from Rockingham. Am still hoping to catch some drone footage of it.

Green Street will be out of service until at least Thursday morning. So sometime after that, most likely.

Thanks Eric. These pale in comparison to your photos but here are some shots I took a couple of days ago at Rockingham Junction. Hopefully soon I can add some branch line video too.

Nice! They were actually out here today, but couldn't do much. There's a lot of lumber in the yard waiting to go up to Boise.

I saw some maintenance vehicles on the track moving down the track from Rockingham Junction on my way back from lunch. I followed and filmed them down past Depot Road, Greenland Road, Barberry Lane and across the Route 1 Bypass. I couldn't send the drone up as there were spotty rain showers in the area and the vehicles had moved within 5 miles of Pease before I caught up to it. I actually followed them to the Green Street area but didn't get any video down there.

Maybe someone can enlighten me as to what these vehicles do so I can update the video description

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ru06HnvGI

The first one is a ballast regulator used for working the stone along the ties and shaping edges of the roadbed. The second is a tamper used for leveling the rails and ties and working the stone in around and under the ties. The tamper usually works first and then the regulator after. You can find videos on U-tube of these things in action.

Interesting. Thank you

I was at Green Street crossing today and the project is moving along, at 5:00 tonight the utility trench across the road was filled and they were dumping stone and grading it out. Pan Am has 3 panel tracks ready to slide in place when the stone is done and had a crew there waiting. So maybe by morning they may have the track in place. There are 15 Boise cars waiting in the yard for delivery.

Jonathan you may get to see the tamper and regulator in action tomorrow.

Nice! Thanks for the info.

There is an engine at Rockingham junction on the branch line. Hoping there may be some action today Maybe going to head down and pickup the Boise load?

Driving north through Portsmouth on I-95 Wednesday I saw a Guilford engine pulling a BNSF icicle reefer (doubtless from Highliner Foods) west toward the bridge under 95. Looked like two other reefers on the storage track across the street from Highliner. Tough to spot at 60mph but I know where to glance.