North Dakota's Hi-Line' Bridge Named Civil Engineering Landmark

摘要

Although its official name is Northern Pacific High Line Bridge No. 64, most locals in Valley City, North Dakota, refer to this railway overpass simply as the Hi-Line Bridge. Now they can also call it a national historic civil engineering landmark. On July 17 ASCE'S North Dakota Section held a ceremony in Chautauqua Park near the bridge to unveil a plaque officially recognizing the bridge's landmark status. The plaque reads as follows: "Northern Pacific High Line Bridge No. 64. This 1908 steel viaduct across the Sheyenne River Valley allowed the railroad to avoid steep grades. At 3,886 feet (1,184 meters) long and 155 feet (47 meters) high, it is an excellent example of its bridge type. Dedicated 2005." While representative of the large steel viaducts that were fairly common in U.S. railroading, the bridge is one of the highest and longest single-track railroad overpasses in the country, and it provided uninterrupted service for nearly 100 years--saving railway owners money by reducing the time, labor, and fuel needed to transport people and goods. "In my view the Hi-Line Bridge goes to the core of what engineers do," Lyle D. Prunty, P.E., a past president of the North Dakota Section, remarked during the dedication. "It had to be justified to the owners of the railway as a way to reduce costs to do the same job with less labor, less energy, and less capital. For example, helper engines were no longer needed. This type of cost reduction effort is how engineers help make a better world every day."