Colton Crossing design deal coming together
Written by jrood
February 14, 2001 Construction of an enormous railroad overpass in Colton, Calif., remains on a scheduled late 2011 start, as officials finalize details of a design agreement, The Press-Enterprise reports. Members of San Bernardino Associated Governments are poised to agree to the contract for design of the Colton Crossing at the agency's monthly meeting.
The agreement between
county transportation officials, Union Pacific and BNSF is one of many agreements needed for the
long-sought and highly-debated project. The crossing will untie a decades-old
train crossing where Union Pacific’s east-west tracks meet BNSF’s north-south
line.
Both railroads and state
officials have pressed for building a 1.4-mile-long overpass to separate the
tracks. Putting the Union Pacific tracks above the BNSF line would allow both
railroads to use the tracks freely, and eliminate waits as crossing trains
pass.
More than half of the
$202-million project is paid for with public funds. In March, officials
announced $33.8 million from the federal stimulus program was awarded to the
project. In May, the California Transportation Commission directed $91.3
million from California’s Prop. 1B transportation bond program that voters
approved in 2006 to the crossing.
But those approvals came
with some concessions from the railroads, after state officials balked at the
benefit the public was receiving from a private project set to receive millions
of government dollars. More commuter trains slots will be available in coming
years to ferry commuters from the Inland area to Los Angeles on Metrolink
trains as part of the master project agreement approved in May by state
officials
Because of the public
money, county transportation officials are overseeing the project, but any
costs associated with it will be paid by the railroads, according to the design
agreement.
Engineering and design of
the overpass is expected to take until July 2011. Construction could begin
three or four months after that, said Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt. If the schedules hold, the
overpass will be completed in late 2014, Hunt said.
