Work begins Monday night to replace a railroad bridge that partially collapsed onto Interstate 25 just north of Pueblo this past October. The construction will close the interstate in both directions at 7 p.m. for an estimated 11 hours. Crews will replace the bridge, reinstall guardrails, and conduct striping and paving.
The Colorado Department of Transportation suggests Highway 115 through Penrose as a detour, which also has a 12-mile stretch of construction on it that reduces the road to one lane in each direction.
The bridge partially collapsed in October after 30 cars derailed from a BNSF Railway coal train. The derailed cars struck the bridge and six fell to the interstate. A truck driver was killed in the incident and the interstate was closed for four days.
In a preliminary report, federal investigators said the train was traveling below the maximum authorized speed at the time of the crash. They're now focusing on BNSF's track maintenance and inspection procedures.
BNSF Railway, which is responsible for the train and the tracks, said that a track that had a broken rail that caused the derailment was inspected the same day as the incident.
