Port of Corpus Christi – Al Speight Military Railyard Improvements

This project provided necessary and important improvements to the Al Speight Military Railyard at the Port of Corpus Christi’s Southside General Cargo Terminal. The improvements expanded the capacity of the yard for military vehicle movements and added two rail spurs for cargo staging, loading, and unloading. To add capacity to the yard, the existing 1752 LF drainage ditch was filled in, and a reinforced concrete box (RCB) culvert system was added. Filling in the drainage ditch required 5,200 CY of select fill which expanded the existing yard by 2.5 acres. It also allowed for expansion / connection to the adjacent yard to the north. The RCB’s consist of 775 LF of 4’ x 2’ Reinforced Concrete Box and 977 LF of Dual 5’ x 2’ Reinforced Concrete Box. They were designed using the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance- of- Way Association (AREMA) standards with live loads based on the Cooper E80 loading. Cooper E80 is designed to approximate 2 locomotives with 80 kips per axle pulling an infinite train of 8 kips per foot. Paving improvements included repaving the existing 15-acre yard, new pavement over the RCB, and new loading and unloading pads. To accommodate the two new rail spurs, realignment of the existing rail spur SP-05 was necessary and improvements to the rail crossings at Sam Rankin Street were completed. The project also included improvements to the security fencing and new rail access gates.