Are there really 300 miles of old trolley tracks paved over in Birmingham? Assuming the rails are embedded in concrete ala' McKinney Avenue, with an asphalt overlay, just how practical is it to reuse any of the track without complete rebuilding? How were these tracks constructed? Are there wooden ties under the concrete or are they held in place by another method?

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... 313280.xml

I can not verify the amount of track still in Birmingham, but can talk about what we have seen in other cities.

Track embedded in concrete is just too expensive to break up to salvage the rail. Track in the center of a city like Birmingham tend to be in concrete. As you work away from the center they were more likely in brick or asphalt. These would have been removed when service ended in the 1950's. There was also some private right-of-way which was removed at the end of service.

Therefore I would be surprized if more than 50 to 100 miles of track was found.

As to wood ties almost all track back then was at least initially held in place with ties. The track in concrete tends to hold itself together. That under asphalt would still have the remains of ties. I saw a track covered in asphalt have the pavement milled down exposing the ties for the first time in 65 years in 1995. Within the next five years after being exposed to air all the ties rotted and shrunk. The street now has dips spaced at 22" centers for over a mile.