Norfolk Southern replacing two Amherst rail bridges

AMHERST — Work is underway to replace two downtown rail bridges owned by Norfolk Southern Railway. The bridges over both Main and Church streets, and the retaining walls on each side of them, will be fully removed and redone over the next year, Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow said Wednesday. Once the bridges have been redone, Norfolk Southern will fill in the underpass on West Street, meaning that the street will no longer run underneath the tracks and into downtown. The work has already begun, and Main Street will be closed at the bridge for the entire year that the work is ongoing. Church Street will be intermittently closed throughout the project, according to Costilow. Costilow said that the city had been trying to have the bridges repaired for several years, as they have been deteriorating for some time. Occasionally, he said, rocks have fallen from the tracks and damaged cars, but thankfully never injured anyone. "The replacement is mostly for the safety under there," he said. "If one of those bridges failed and a train came through, it would be catastrophic, there are a lot of houses near there… We have had some small rocks falling through the bridges, and the railroad was always good about coming out and fixing things when we would report a rock had fallen through or something was hanging. I think the more we called, the more it brought attention to it, and they finally decided it was time to replace them." Another common issue for the bridges in the past was the clearance of the Church Street bridge. Costilow said large box trucks and semitractor-trailers would often hit or even become stuck on the bridge. He said the city expected about an additional foot would be added to the clearance of the bridge, and the opening would be slightly narrowed to account for the change. "We have had a lot of say, some really great cooperation, with the design," Costilow said. "They have been really good about working with the city, and we have given them some areas of city property to do their staging. Typically, working with the railroad is not a good experience, but this has been a great experience." A request seeking comment was left with Norfolk Southern on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Elyria announced that Norfolk Southern had agreed to completely replace the rail bridge over East Bridge Street, which residents and officials have been complaining about for years. Like Costilow, Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker said that Norfolk Southern had been much more communicative and committed to maintenance than it had been in the past. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.