Replacing Railroad Tracks Closes Osborne Road

Osborne Road is closed between East River Road and Main Street while the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad replaces a short stretch of track.

The project should be done tomorrow, according to BNSF crew member Pat Hust. He said Tuesday the track-replacement work is moving south and has about 3,000 more feet to go.

The crew began Monday replacing a slight curve of track that starts about halfway between Osborne Road and 77th Avenue NE and continues toward the west end of Community Park.

Among the last of more than a dozen separate steps in replacing track: heating the new rails to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit and driving spikes into railroad ties.

The old lengths of track will go a metal scrapper, a smaller railroad, or a less busy section of BNSF's network.