Tank cars see new life as culverts and bridges in Henry County

Ever wonder what happens to the old tank cars as they age? They get turned into bridges and culverts. The Henry County Secondary Roads Division uses the old tankers in several projects throughout the county.

“We have done several projects with the tankers,” said County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss. “We have even done a couple of joint projects with Jefferson County, where we purchased the tank car and they did the install.”

This last summer the department installed tank cars on Oakland Mills and 253rd Street in Mt. Pleasant. The tankers are generally placed on lower volume, dirt roads, where they will replace older bridge or culvert structures.

“The tank cars are anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick steel,” said Hotchkiss. “They are processed, and prepped by whomever we purchase them from, and they are also cut to length when we get them. Sometimes this means that there are two cars welded together to form one long form. If we need a 60-foot pipe, they can do that.”

The rail car is completely stripped of the outside gear, and sometimes even an inside liner is removed, so that only a complete steel cylinder remains.

“This is the outer shell of the car, so there is nothing contaminating the area by what may have previously been in the car,” said Hotchkiss. “We buy them because they are an economical core for our larger drainage projects. It is a recycled product, and that’s a good thing for the environment.”

The tankers are used as a whole, in the round product, not cut in half. This is done to maintain structural integrity of the unit. Most of the units are 9 to 9.5 feet in diameter and are used to create a culvert by which water will run through. This is a standard size for the tankers, they typically do not get any bigger or any smaller in diameter.

“The hardest part of the whole project is getting it up on the existing roadway and getting it turned into place from there,” said Hotchkiss of the installation of the tanker. “We can backfill a tanker into a spot where it is placed within a day. It may take the remaining part of a week to complete the install of the road, but the tanker install goes rather quickly.”

“The tanker bounces in,” said Hotchkiss. “And then everything gets locked in with backfill and clay soil. And then we use rip rap around the site.”

“There are times when two tankers will be used at a site,” said Hotchkiss. “There are three such sites that we will be doing throughout the county this summer that will be like this.”

The cost of the tanker is generally $19,000 for the tanker itself, with about $20,000 in equipment fees, depending on the install. This is much more economical than trying to build a bridge for most of these low volume roadways. It also means that the roadway can be built without raised sides, thus allowing for farm equipment to be used on the structures.

“We try to evaluate what is the most economical way to approach a project,” said Hotchkiss. “We look at what will take care of the issue and give us the length of service. We feel that the tank cars will do this for most structures. To purchase steel for a brand new structure would cost a lot, the tankers are a great product to use.”