Progress made on Norfolk bridge

NORFOLK, Neb. — Significant progress has been made this week in efforts to restore the Norfolk railroad bridge over the Elkhorn River that collapsed last month due to flooding.

Both bridge spans, which had been in the river since June 15, were lifted out of the river Wednesday and Thursday and will be carefully inspected for damage.

Chad Korth, a spokesman for Nebraska Central Railroad, said the north span was lifted on Wednesday evening. The south span was lifted out Thursday.

Korth said some damage already has been observed on the bridge spans, but they should be salvageable.

Korth said lots of people are working diligently to get the bridge restored, including workers from Kansas City and St. Louis.

The next step will be to do some work to ready the piling for the bridge support system. Some of that work already has been completed, but not all of it could be because the spans were in the way, he said.

It is not known when the bridge will be operational again, he said.

Previously, railroad officials had said that the two 125-foot bridge spans were about 100 years old when the railroad bridge was built. The spans were built to handle steam locomotives that were heavier than modern diesel locomotives.

Since the railroad bridge collapsed in June, additional truck traffic has hauled metal, ethanol and other products for some of Norfolk’s major industries.

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