The railway is doing that not the city. I am willing to be that it is either time for some major maintenance along that part of the line or the insurance companies finally told them to raise it as you have to raise the track over about a mile including other crossings/bridges.
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Why can’t we have nice things?
So that’s why my USB-C to lightning adapter is late …
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Judge believes 8 inches is “the most they can raise it” without having to reconstruct another nearby crossing, but referred HuffPost to the railroad for details.
Jim Kessler, NCRR’s vice president of engineering, said in an email Monday that the additional 8 inches “will maximize the increased clearance without affecting the grade of adjoining track on each side of the bridge.” The railroad is paying the full cost of the $500,000 project, Kessler added.
So they are not raising the track, just using a slimmer bridge design?
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The thing is, you CAN have a steeper grade for things like overpasses BECAUSE the distance is short enough that an entire long train will not be on it. So the locomotive will still have sufficient traction.
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Only half a mill? What a bargain.
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They are raising the track as pointed out by @simonize above. Apparently they can raise it just enough along with new bridge materials they don’t have to raise the track at any of the nearby crossings.
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TIL that Churchill probably didn’t say that Americans can be trusted to do the right thing after every alternative has been exhausted.
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Check out this ridiculously cool 3-D laser water hologram sign right in your FACE! Well it might only work in tunnels, but the idea is dang cool…
Summary
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Not impossible, just impractical – but I guess the practicality argument finally won out. And the world is a worse place for it.
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I’m sure Penske and U-Haul are glad for this.
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Is your argument that 1) the railroad company spending $500K is a poor use of funds 2) The world is better when people get what’s coming to them 3) Sarcasm
You really haven’t been paying attention to modern physics, have you?
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Schadenfreude is a hell of a drug.
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Check out this ridiculously cool 3-D laser water hologram
The downside being that you need water … in 
… 
… maybe they can get it to work with dust? Or just use salt water?
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From the article, first line. (Emphasis mine.)
The 11’8" bridge in Durham, N.C., … will be raised to 12’4" this week.
Dude, do you even open cans?
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The federal recommendation for bridges is 14 ft. Most states limit truck heights to 13.5 ft.
If I was an engineer, I’d use the records of crashes to set a new height. Maybe it would be horribly expensive to get a 14 ft bridge. But if a slightly lower bridge would still eliminate, e.g. 95% of incidents-- I’d be happy.
A 1% grade is not an issue; main grades usually top out around 2.5-3%. To come up 8", 150 feet each side would be plenty. On the map it looks like they’ve got at least 400 feet to work with, each side. It’s built on a berm which might have to be widened a bit, but it looks like there’s space for that too.
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Well, at least Can Opening remains an ACC sport.
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I’m fascinated by the audio, especially on his voice, around the 3 minute mark, and again at 4:55. Kind of a swishy ‘choir of demons’ going on in the background that sounds very October.
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