Lorton Road was for
many years limited by a single lane railroad overpass
that tied up traffic at a critical access point
to I-95. The challenges were to provide uninterrupted
rail passage while constructing new bridges and
roadways and to provide access to the Amtrak Auto-Train
facility adjacent to the project. Shirley Contracting
Company, LLC designed and constructed a temporary
railroad bridge capable of carrying three lines
of high speed passenger and freight lines through
the project and worked with the railroad to do
a "Hot Switch" of the rail lines to the temporary
bridge. This allowed the permanent structure to
be built adjacent to the temporary and upon completion
switch the rail traffic back and remove the temporary
bridge. Ultimately this required thousands of
feet of rail relocation and switching both permanent
and temporary to accomplish the project. Multiple
Rail entities including CSX, VRE, Amtrak as well
as the Virginia Department of Transportation,
Fairfax County agencies and utility owners were
involved in the project with Shirley. Completed
in 1999 the project successfully accomplished
the goals of no disruption to rail services while
constructing a significantly improved traffic
pattern with a very aggressive schedule.
