BNSF Sunrise Road Bridge

Located west of the small town of Pleasant Dale, this deck girder bridge crosses Sunrise Road. The first bridge at this location was likely a timber trestle. In 1918, the bridge would be reconstructed with a single track bridge, utilizing a 80-foot deck plate girder span, set onto concrete piers, and approached by four concrete slab spans on the west end and three concrete slab spans on the east end. The substructures the approaches would be constructed concrete piles, and the main piers were constructed wide enough for two tracks. In 2016, a second track was added to the north side of the existing bridge to help improve operations in the area. Two deck plate girder spans would be constructed, with concrete modular girder approach spans. The new track would be set onto steel pile substructures. Both designs of bridge were/are commonly used by railroads throughout the United States, as they are durable and easy to construct. It is believed that three of the west approach spans and three of the east approach spans were replaced by concrete modular girder spans in 2016. Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition, with no significant deterioration noted. The bridges currently carry nearly 50 trains per day. The author has raked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.