Nearly half of the budget
to build Norfolk’s light-rail starter line is "soft costs" such as consulting,
legal and administrative fees, which are almost twice the norm for this kind of
project, Hampton Roads Transit’s new leader, Philip Shucet, told the Norfolk,
Va., City Council, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
The Puget Sound region’s
largest public agencies will host a Regional Contracting Forum on March 30 at
the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. Each year, more
than 1,000 people attend this annual networking and information-gathering
event. This year the Forum will include one-on-one interactive sessions between
prime and subcontractors for construction and architectural and engineering
services, and agency buyers and vendors. The Forum also serves as a
"one-stop" location for business owners seeking to do business with
government agencies to ask questions that will help them navigate the public
competitive bidding process successfully.
Construction work at
several sites, including the new Puritas Rapid
station, will affect
West Side rail service, say officials of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority. On Feb. 20-21, all West Side Red Line
train service between
Tower City and Hopkins International Airport will be replaced with shuttle
buses.
As part of the
Patrick-Murray Administration’s commitment to building a more customer-friendly
transportation system, Massachusetts Governor Patrick said that real-time
arrival information will be available on MBTA’s Fitchburg Commuter Rail line
beginning February 11.
For a dollar a year,
Lyndhurst, N.J., officials said the two dilapidated train stations in town will
soon be reverted to the town’s control. It could lead to refurbishment of the
stations and allow the leasing of space in them. Officials said the move would
augment mass transit ridership, give individuals with disabilities greater
access to the trains and bring more traffic to Lyndhurst’s business districts,
the Bergen Record reports.
Construction of a rail
line from Clarksville-Montgomery Business Park in Tennessee to Commerce Park
across Guthrie Highway is part of the infrastructure for the Hemlock
Semiconductor plant is being built there, the Leaf Chronicle reports. As the
project progressed, it became clear that construction would require a wider
right-of-way in some sections because more slope was needed to the new rail bed
and work continued without consent from the new property owner, FWJR Partnership.
Maine transportation
officials say they’ve taken new steps to resolve the potential abandonment of about
240 miles of railroad track in Aroostook and Penobscot Counties, after the
track’s owner indicated it plans to file a notice of abandonment in about the
next two weeks, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.
The Obama administration’s
recent decision to award $38.5 million in high speed rail funds to New Jersey
is the first step towards a stronger, faster rail system that will reduce
congestion, oil use, and carbon emissions, but there is much still to be done, local
media report. That was the message that New Brunswick’s Mayor Jim Cahill and
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Program Associate Rebecca Alper made
clear when they gathered at New Brunswick Train Station to release "The Right
Track," a new research report from NJPIRG.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver met
with Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Joseph Szabo in an effort to
get funding for Iowa rail projects back on track, especially a proposed
passenger rail routes from Chicago to Iowa City and Chicago to Dubuque, the Mason
City Globe Gazette reports.
The Jackson County, Miss.,
Port Authority will provide $35,000 for a study on creating a rail line linking
east-central Mississippi to coastal ports, the Hattiesburg American reports. The
Regional Railroad Authority of East Mississippi would oversee about 45 miles of
track from Waynesboro to Lucedale, where existing lines serve port facilities
in Pascagoula and Mobile.
Isanti, Minn., is
moving forward with the Isanti Rail Industrial Park development process, the Isanti
County News reports. During a recent Isanti City Council meeting, it authorized
city engineer Bolton & Menk, Inc. to provide professional engineering
services for the preparation of a conceptual layout and facility plan for the
Isanti Rail Industrial Park.
MTA NYC Transit said the
next phase of a major $89-million construction project to reconstruct and
rehabilitate five stations on the Pelham 6 line has begun. They are Whitlock
Avenue, Elder Avenue, Morrison Avenue-Soundview, St. Lawrence Avenue and
Parkchester.
A portion of 14th Street in
Greenville, N.C., will close next week and remain closed for approximately one
month, city officials said Feb. 8, the Greenville Daily Reflector reports. The
railroad crossing next to Beatty Street, between Dickinson Avenue and Evans
Street, is undergoing construction to accommodate a new connector track.
Vehicles will be detoured through the use of Dickinson Avenue, and 10th and
14th streets, a news release stated.
In what is the strongest
sign to date that it will abandon the Yucca Mountain Project, the Department of
Energy on Feb. 9 withdrew 116 water applications it had filed with the Nevada State
Engineer for building a rail line to haul nuclear waste to the mountain from
Caliente, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Light rail trains will be
running in the spring or summer of 2011, Hampton Roads Transit’s new CEO and
president Phil Shucet told Norfolk, Va., City Council members Feb. 9, local
media report. It’s the first estimate from HRT for completion of The Tide since
a series of cost overruns and construction delays were revealed in December.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates face a
roadblock on the route toward payoff on their investment in U.S. freight
transportation, Bloomberg reports. Chicago, whose railroads made it hog butcher
for the world a century ago, is a tangle of bottlenecks where a quarter of the
nation’s rail freight stalls while trying to navigate the city.
Amtrak is awarding two
contracts with a combined value of $49.5 million for major upgrades of its
maintenance facilities located in Los Angeles and in Hialeah, Fla., near Miami.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act economic stimulus program is funding
both projects.
TriMet in Portland, Ore., is
hosting two open houses to provide an update on the status of project planning,
funding and design of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project.
You still can’t get there
from here. While work has gotten under way on an initial seven-mile stretch of
route in New Jersey, much more money and political effort are needed to restore
passenger rail service from Northeast Pennsylvania to New York City’s doorstep
– and the onus may fall largely on the Keystone State, the Scranton, Pa.,
Times-Tribune reports.
Virginia could eliminate
about one in three trucks from Interstate 81 with extensive –and expensive —
rail improvements, a consultant told the Roanoke Times. Given the high cost and
logistical barriers to such a plan, however, the consultant endorses a more
modest approach that will shift fewer trucks — perhaps one in seven — much to
the disappointment of some railroad supporters.