Railroad awards Michels $21.6M for Merrimac train bridge rehabilitation

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Madison-based Wisconsin & Southern Railroad has awarded $21.6 million to Brownsville-based Michels Corp. to reconstruct Bridge 334, also known as the Merrimac Bridge, between Sauk and Columbia counties. Michels won the bid on Tuesday over Kraemer North America and Lunda Construction.

Crews will install new steel beams for the track, install new steel girders, replace concrete riser blocks, repair deteriorated concrete and realign the track across the full length of the bridge. After replacing existing expansion bearings across multiple spans, crews will install a new deck with a walkway for all bridge spans.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced a $6.75 million grant in June 2020, as part of a U.S Department of Transportation Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program, for the final phase to rehab the Merrimac bridge. Designers want the bridge to last another 40 years and increase its carload capacity to 286,000 pounds moving at 25 miles per hour.

WSOR carries around 288,000 tons of freight over the Merrimac Bridge to and from Sauk County each year. The company acquired the bridge, part of the Madison-Reedburg line, from the Union Pacific Railroad in 2014.

The bridge is 1,729 feet long with a single track and was first built in 1895 by Lassig Bridge & Iron Works, the website BridgeHunter said. American Bridge Co. rebuilt and modified the bridge in 1903 and 1930, respectively.