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A good read on the Becker to Big Lake project
"Burlington Northern Santa Fe contractors from Aimes Construction have begun dirt work in preparation for the installation of a second line of track between Big Lake and Becker.
“Earlier this year BNSF announced our plans to spend $326 million in Minnesota in 2015 on capacity and maintenance projects so we can meet our customers’ needs for moving freight and continue to operate safely,” said Amy McBeth, public affairs spokesperson for BNSF Railway.
“One of those expansion projects involves adding 10 miles of double track between Big Lake and Becker,” she said. “This added capacity will benefit all traffic moving on our route there.”
To the west of Co. Rd. 17 the new track will be to the south side of the existing track. East of Co. Rd. 17, in Big Lake, it will be on the north side of the existing line, bringing it very close to existing homes and businesses.
“There was double track originally along the entire stretch on the north side of the existing track,” McBeth said. “Putting the track to the north of the existing track in that location allowed us to use our existing property and to tie into existing infrastructure.”
In Big Lake, work began Monday on grading the crossing at Eagle Lake Road. The crossing is closed on one side only, with flaggers controlling traffic.
Once the Eagle Lake Road reconstruction is complete, contractors will move west to the Hwy. 25 intersection. The plan includes continuing to use flaggers on Hwy. 25 and keep the road open.
Curbs, gutters and sidewalks will be taken out as needed and the areas will be backfilled and replaced when the project is complete, according to an email from Aimes Construction, sent to the City of Big Lake.
“One thing they have said they will need is different signals for pedestrians at the intersections with the crossings,” said Interim City Administrator Joel Scharf. “They cost a lot of money.”
The city is currently in discussion with BNSF, MN DOT and the county over who has to pay for the upgrades.
“Having two lines of track creates a lot of changes,” Scharf said. “It will have an impact on traffic.”
In Becker, construction workers began moving dirt Wednesday, said City Administrator Greg Pruszinske.
“We have five utility crossings in four places,” Pruszinske said. “We are working to get them all squared away.”
Most of the utility crossings are for sewer and storm sewer. One of the crossings is located at Liberty Lane, which connects the city and the industrial park. The City of Becker and BNSF will share expenses on those, Pruszinske said.
“It is mostly just a matter of extending the casing around the utility,” he said. “And we will be realigning Hancock Street to line up on both sides of Hwy. 10 when the second line is installed. It will be improved like Liberty Lane to give us a second access to the industrial park.”
Negotiations have taken lace with Cinnabar, Aimes Construction, the Becker City Attorney and MN DOT to negotiate the realignment of Hancock Street, to make it a safer intersection.
The unconfirmed cost of the realignment, to be paid by the City of Becker, is $267,500.
“We plan at this point to be laying the track by late summer or early fall,” McBeth said.
BNSF has a network of 32,500 route miles in 28 states and three Canadian provinces. In 2014, BNSF hauled nearly one million carloads of agricultural commodities and enough grain to supply 900 million people with a year’s supply of bread.
Five million truck trailers or containers were transported on BNSF’s rail lines instead of on the nation’s highways.
Eight oil trains with enough crude oil from the Williston Basin of North Dakota pass along the line from St. Cloud to Elk River every day. That’s enough to fill the tanks of 656,000 average vehicles with gasoline every day.
They also hauled 2.3 million shipments of coal last year."
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