Kansas City Star
by Kevin Collison
July 26, 2010
Kansas City’s engineering companies are known nationally and internationally for their expertise and have an impressive list of projects around the world to prove it.
In the latest survey by Engineering News-Record, a major trade publication, the Kansas City area was home to 13 of the country’s 500 largest firms, with three in the top 25. The five highest-ranked area companies were asked by the publication to pick a local project that made them particularly proud.
TranSystems Corp., Kansas City
Ranked 57th by ENR, with $205 million in revenues
Olathe was born a railroad town, and the mainline tracks of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe that cut through the city are a reminder of that legacy. Until recently, they also were a major obstacle for many motorists using Santa Fe Street.
Each day an average of 45 trains, many of them pulling hundreds of coal cars, shut down traffic. In 2002, city officials started considering ways to improve the situation. A preliminary study recommended a bridge to carry Santa Fe Street’s vehicle traffic over the tracks.
The overpass also would have required the removal of seven businesses. When traffic engineers at TranSystems looked at the study, they decided there must be a better way.
“We’ve got rail expertise and road and highway expertise,” said Frank Weatherford, a principal and senior vice president. “We literally had a brainstorming session with the railroad and road guys together.”
What the team found was a unique opportunity provided by the area’s topography to improve multiple street crossings, not just one.
“The railroad was actually in a bowl,” Weatherford said. “The trains had to come down and climb out. By raising the tracks, we went from one lip of the bowl to the other. It also operated better for the railroad.”
So the engineers elevated an 8,200-foot stretch of BNSF tracks using bridges and retaining walls. The $42 million project was completed last year. The trains now pass above Santa Fe, Ridgeview Road, and Park and Loula streets.
“For roughly the same amount of money, we got four grade separations for what one would have cost,” Weatherford said.
There was a nice fringe benefit as well for Olathe residents.
“The trains don’t have to blow horns now either when they cross streets,” he said. “It’s a quality of life improvement as well.”