Industrial History

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

$151m Sterling Highway Bridge over Juneau Creek south of Anchorage, AK

Currently, as designed, the Juneau Creek Bridge will be the:
highest crossing in the state at 285 feet (Hurricane Gulch is approximately 250 feet)
longest single-span bridge in the state since 1982
longest erected and launched bridge in the state
Designer: DOT&PF
Contractor: QAP-Traylor Joint Venture
Award Amount: $151,000,000
[SterlingHighway]

liebherr

LiebherrConstruction posted

In the remote wilderness of Southern Alaska, innovation meets determination.

The Juneau Creek Bridge, spanning an impressive 951 feet (290 m) is set to become one of the largest infrastructure projects in the state, transforming traffic flow and safety along the Kenai Peninsula.

Read the full story to learn how Traylor Bros., Inc. utilized their Liebherr LR 1300.1 SX to keep this project on track: https://go.liebherr.com/7f87kg

liebherr
They have cranes on both sides of the ravine.

liebherr

AK-1 gets very congested with tourist traffic in Cooper Landing. The purpose of the new highway is to provide a bypass around Cooper Landing for traffic, especially trucks, going to the rest of the Kenai Peninsula.

SterlingHighway

And some big rigs are used to drill the piles for the bridge piers.

MalcolmDrilling

I'm glad to see at least one wildlife crossing.

sterling45-60

When I accessed the satellite image, they had the launch foundation and two gantry cranes built.

Satellite

And they have one of the crawler cranes assembled in a staging area.

Satellite

The wildlife crossing is an underpass.

MalcolmDrilling_summer-2024

I've been looking for an image that has people to provide scale for the girders. In fact, this video specifies that they are 13'3" (4m). The bridge uses 45 girders. This photo also shows that the tires on the gantry cranes are as tall as a person.

Instagram Reel

Jun 9, 2026 post:

Facebook Reel

1916 24mw Elephant Butte/Engle Dam on Rio Grande River near Truth or Consequences, NM

(Satellite)

Street View, Apr 2024

The outlet conduit in the spillway is running.

usbr

"Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir (originally called Engle Dam) is on the Rio Grande, 125 miles north of El Paso, Texas, can store 2,210,298 acre-feet of water to provide irrigation and year-round power generation. This is a concrete gravity dam 301 feet [92m] high and 1,674 feet [510m] long including the spillway. It contains 618,785 cubic yards of concrete. The dam was completed in 1916, but storage operation began in 1915.

"The power system consists of a 24,300-kilowatt hydroelectric powerplant at Elephant Butte Dam. A system consisting of 490 miles of 115-kilovolt transmission line and 11 substations totaling 81,750 kilovolt-amperes, which was developed and operated by the Rio Grande Project until 1977, has been sold to a private electric company.

"Geology

"Foundation: Hard, sound, fissured sandstone in irregular beds, containing pockets and interbedded strata of friable shale and numerous small springs throughout foundation area"

6:52 video @ 3:13
History of Elephant Butte Dam
It can hold over 2 million acre-feet of water.
When built, it was the second largest irrigation dam in the world, and it created the largest man-made reservoir ever built. [@ 1:17]

Facebook Reel

Same Reel

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Wabtec Test Track, NYC and US-20 Bridges over Sixmile Creek near Erie, PA

East Erie Commercial Railroad (Wabtec test track): (Satellite)

NYC: (Satellite)

NKP: (Satellite)

US-20: (Satellite)

US-20 Overview

The arch bridge carries the Wabtec/GE test track. On the other side of that bridge, we get a glimpse of the arch bridge of the CSX/NYC.

Street View, Apr 2024

Linda walked the Sixmile Creek from here to the South. So this is the creek view of the above scene.

Facebook Reel

After she pointed out the little waterfall and some snakes, a test train appeared on the Wabtec test track. I was surprised that Wabtec still uses the GE logo. Also, we can see clear through the NYC arch bridge.

Same Reel

The test train consisted of two blue and one BNSF locomotives.

Same Reel

After seeing a snake swimming in the creek, we get a closeup of the NYC Bridge.

Same Reel

Another view of the NYC arch because a NS/NKP train is on their bridge. It is gone in later views. The concrete girder bridge in the background is the US-20 Bridge.

Same Reel

She turned around for this shot of the NYC Bridge. The road bridge behind the test track bridge is PA-955, which is on Iroquois Ave. As Linda explains, the NYC Bridge is a double arch and we can see the gap between the arches in these NYC views.

The NYC Bridge needs some TLC. I think the date is 1909.

Same Reel

Linda called the NKP bridge the CSX bridge. I verified that she was wrong. When they split up Conrail, CSX got NYC. NS got NKP because of the N&W+NKP+Wabash merger.

arcgis

Linda also considers the US-20 bridge to be blah because she spent about 2 seconds on that bridge in her video.

Same Reel

These fossils are underneath the US-20 bridge.

Same Reel

1960/62 Harborcreek Quad @ 24,000

The East Erie Commercial label in the above map is still the name of the railroad that Wabtec uses to test locomotives. Linda had a few more scenes of the test train going over their bridge in her video.

A.J MIC, Apr 2023

"It takes about 25 days start to finish to build a brand new locomotive....We track test 100% of every locomotive we ship....They travel about 40 to 50 miles on the test track. We want high-speed runs and we want to do low speed run. Exercise that locomotive and all the conditions it may see out in its environment....Grand total, it varies on the model, but testing and painting takes anywhere from about 6 to 10 days." [2:14 video]

Lock and Dam #3 and T-Bridge on Muskingum River at Lowell, OH

Dam: (Satellite)

Lock: (Satellite)

Bridge: (no Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2023

The dam is in the upper-left corner while the bridge and lock are in the lower-right corner.

Satellite

This shows water Street on the right joining McClain Street over the river.

Street View, Aug 2023

Looks like it uses steel girders.

Jody Parks posted

Another, Y Bridge on the Muskingum River.

Lowell, Ohio. A Bird’s Eye View.

[The famous Y-bridge is in Zanesville, OH.]

Monday, June 8, 2026

1870+1906 Trail/Northern Pacific Bridge over St. Louis River near Carlton, MN

1870: (no Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter)

1906: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Jen Deblieck, Sep 2025

BridgeHunter_1870

One of the abutments still uses cut stone. It appears that the other abutment was replaced with concrete, but they kept the stone wing walls.

2014 photo by John Marvig via BridgeHunter_1906

This bridge is another transition design between pin connected and riveted plates.

2015 photo by John Marvig via BridgeHunter_1906

Aaron De Baiso posted eight photos with the comment: "Absolutely pleasant weather graced Carlton County in Minnesota during the final weekend of May 2026. This provided an opportune occasion to photograph the former Northern Pacific train bridge over the St. Louis River just below Thomson Dam. This structure was constructed in 1906 by the American Bridge Company from New York. It is located between Thomson Township and Carlton along the Willard Munger Trail. Many hikers, runners, cyclists, and children were observed marveling at the bridge plus the opulent St. Louis River below. The smell of rust added to the historical splendor of being in the company of this century old reminder of the Northern Pacific. I am curious to know whether this bridge is along the Duluth Short Line Railroad Route. Can somebody help me with this, please? All photographs are from Saturday, May 30th, 2026."

1953/64 Duluth Quad @ 250,000

I used the above map to try to sort out which BN was NP. Unfortunately, it is not accurate. But there is only one BN crossing the river, so that made it easy to find.