Last week’s flooding at
the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Minn., caused as much as $175,000 in damage to
pumps and other electrical equipment in the lower level of the polar exhibit,
zoo officials say, according to the Duluth News-Tribune. A culvert that was
under repair got blocked under a BNSF bridge downstream from the zoo, and water
backed up Kingsbury Creek during a heavy rain Aug. 18.
The Metropolitan Council in
the Twin Cities awarded the second heavy construction contract for the Central
Corridor light rail transit Project to Ames Construction/C.S.McCrossan and gave
Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. the contract to build 41 light-rail
vehicles.
On Monday, August 30, SEPTA
Route 101 and 102 Trolleys will return to normal service after several
extensive federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act construction projects
conclude. For nearly a year, SEPTA replaced regular trolley service with
shuttle buses along portions of the line.
The Port of Coos Bay, Ore.,
received a $7.8-million state grant for rehabilitation of the Coos Bay rail
line, The Oregonian reports. The Connect Oregon grant was announced in
Reedsport by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
August 27-29, the
Washington, D.C., Metro will upgrade its track and platforms and trim weeds on
the Red, Blue and Green lines to improve long-term reliability and service. As
a result of this crucial work, which is critical to maintain the railroad in a
state of good repair, riders can expect delays of up to 30 minutes
Oldcastle Precast provided 980
track feet of its StarTrack® railroad-crossing system for the Greater Cleveland
Regional Transit Authority’s four light rail grade-crossing rehabilitation
projects in Cleveland, Ohio. Oldcastle Precast provided design and production
of the 99 precast concrete rail crossing segments, known as the StarTrack®
System, as well as 16 precast, tapered approach slabs to upgrade the four light
rail crossing areas. The installation work performed at each location had to be
completed within a 54-hour time frame to minimize train schedule interruption.
The St. Louis Metro’s
Board of Commissioners selected John Nations as its new president and CEO.
A North End train station
project in Niagara Falls, N.Y., more than two decades in the making officially
moved into the first phase of construction on August 24, the Niagara Gazette
reports.
Local officials gathered outside the historic U.S. Customhouse near
the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge Plaza to break ground on a new Amtrak passenger
rail facility and Underground Railroad interpretive center to be built on the
site.
Advocates for an intermodal
facility to ship agricultural products from Minot, N.D., saw their vision
realized August 23, reports the Minot Daily News. The Port of North Dakota
began unloading containers from a BNSF train that morning with plans to fill
them this week with commodities.
The Delaware River Port
Authority and PATCO have received a nearly perfect review following two days of
intense scrutiny by a Federal Transit Administration compliance reviewer. Twenty-two
areas of compliance were reviewed and the Authority received perfect scores in
21 of those areas.
Southeast Beach Drive in
Vancouver, Wash., is now officially a train horn quiet zone, city officials said, The Columbian reports. It’s the first of nine crossings where
various improvements – medians, crossing gates, street closures – may be used
to hush the 24-hour call of horns.
Steve Kamau is tired of "noise
pollution" from Union Pacific trains sounding their horns as they ramble
through Manteca, Calif., often at speeds in excess of 55 mph, the Manteca Bulletin
reports. The Manteca resident has launched a signature gathering effort at the
ipetitions.com site aimed at collecting signatures to try and convince the City
Council to address the issue.
Union Pacific is
investing more than $9 million to improve the rail line from Milwaukee, Wis.,
to near Lebanon, Wis. Work on two projects covering more than a 40-mile stretch
of railroad track began August 18 and is scheduled to be completed by the end
of November. The projects include removing and installing more than 33,000
ties, replacing the surfaces at 57 grade crossings and replacing nearly 24
miles of rail.
Canadian Pacific Ltd.,
Canada’s second-largest railway company, plans to announce a major
reorganization of its operations in the next two weeks, as part of its ongoing
focus to improve efficiency and customer service, according to an internal
document obtained by Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal reports.
President Barack Obama’s
push for high-speed passenger trains raises concerns about crowded rails
slowing freight carriers like Union Pacific and BNSF, the Omaha World-Herald
reports. This year, the administration committed $8 billion out of the $787
billion economic stimulus package and added $2.3 billion in the fiscal 2010
budget as down payments on a high-speed rail program that could cost hundreds
of billions of dollars. The plan is to reduce America’s dependence on oil,
reduce traffic on highways and eliminate harmful exhaust emissions from
millions of cars.
Metra’s massive
bridge-rebuilding project on the Union Pacific North Line between Chicago and
Kenosha, Wis., got off to a rough start August 23 as commuters got tangled in a
new train schedule complicated by crew mistakes, the Chicago Tribune reports. Delays
and confusion were common complaints as commuters crammed aboard trains, with
some riders inadvertently boarding late-running trains that didn’t make
expected stops.
The Tri-City Regional
Port District will construct an additional 9,600 feet of track for a new rail
line at the port’s southern harbor near the McKinley Bridge, as part of an
overall expansion of the port, the Belleville, Ill., News-Democrat reports.
With extensive input from
the community, Amtrak is carrying out a $460,000 plan to restore and revitalize
with trees, shrubs and fencing a section of its right-of-way along the
Northeast Corridor in Woodside, Queens, N.Y. Amtrak has hired a Landscape
Horticulturist to assist in the selection and planting of approximately 600 new
trees and shrubs, which the railroad will warranty and maintain for one year.
It has been about five
months since mudslides pushed trees and soil down the bluffs along the
Blackhawk Heights and High Points subdivisions in eastern Iowa, and residents
are still trying to find a way to stabilize their properties, The Hawk Eye
reports.
Daniel Carson,
P.E., has been hired by Urban Engineers, Inc. as Cost Estimating Practice Leader.
Carson brings 38 years of professional experience, including proprietorship of
his own firm, Daniel Carson Consulting Engineer, in Framingham, Mass. Prior to
that, he was president and senior project manager for DMC Engineering, Inc. During
his 25 years at DMC, he led all activities involving cost estimating and
constructability. Carson has also served as a project manager for Peabody NE,
Inc. and chief engineer and project superintendent for Eastern Seaboard Construction
Engineering, Inc.