KCT HIghline Railroad bridge OVER THE KANSAS RIVER
PROJECT Overview
At a staggering 16 million pounds, the KCT Highline Bridge is the heaviest railroad bridge in history to ever be lifted. Twelve Enerpac lifting jacks, each with 55 strands of 0.75” diameter braided steel cable, bear the weight of this double-decker quad track railroad bridge and can raise the entire bridge off its bearing seats at a rate of 7 feet per hour. Consisting of three spans, one approach span at 130 feet, and two baltimore truss spans at just over 300 feet, the KCT Highline is now capable of rising 17 feet in the case of extreme flooding of the Kansas River. This targeted elevation correlates with the Corps of Engineers’ new levee wall following the river, constructed in 2023-2025. The jacks shown in bright yellow will remain anchored to the top of each tower, while power units and cable strands will be stored adjacent to the bridge, ready at a moment’s notice. While the bridge is in a raised position, stoplogs are placed across the bottom course of rail to complete the levee wall’s retainage of flood water, keeping the Highline Bridge high and dry and free of damage from flood debris.
BRIDGE HISTORY
Chief Engineer, J.V Hanna and Bridge Engineer, G.E. Tebbetts started construction of the Highline bridge in 1916 and took 3 years to complete. Hanna and Tebbetts employed General Contractor Arkansas Bridge Company to perform the work. Prior to Arkansas Bridge Company building the Highline bridge, there stood a 730-foot single track bridge constructed in 1907. Today the Highline bridge still utilizes the original pier sitting from 1907. A hydraulic powered jacking system was installed to raise the bridge 10 feet for similar flooding purposes, however the system has been out of commission since the 1970’s.
The double-track, double-deck railroad bridge connects two major rail yards, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Argentine and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Armstrong to the west, and several smaller yards to the east in Missouri. The web of routes leading to both levels, Lowline and Highline, still sees heavy train traffic to this day that then branches in all directions throughout America.
PREPARATION and LIFT
LG Barcus and Sons started construction in early Spring of 2024 and completed a test lift in March of 2025. As a result of inactivity, the existing guides that keep the spans from shifting during lifting operations were replaced with new steel, as well as an additional 10 feet of guides to allow for a higher final lifting elevation.
The tower’s structural steel, jack bases, and the tower platforms also went through renovations to accommodate the new jacking design. Each 80-foot strand was hand-pulled up through the Enerpac jacking mechanism to the strand guides at the top of the towers that redirect the cable strands back through the tower bodies. Sitting inside the towers, temporary channels were installed to ensure the strands continue down as the bridge is raised. A total of 18,006 manhours went into this project from March 2024 – March 2025.
DESIGN ENGINEER: Transystems
Ingenuity That Shapes Lives – GFT
CONTACT US at L.G. BARCUS & SONS
1-800-255-0180
