Colton Crossing public information meetings held

Written by jrood

Officials estimate construction of the long-awaited Colton Crossing project in Southern California will be complete sometime in 2014, the Contra Costa Times reports.

San Bernardino Associated
Governments, the county’s transportation agency, also known as Sanbag, is
leading the project. It has recommended Union Pacific tracks be raised over
BNSF tracks. Environmental documents related to the project are set to be
available for public review late this year or early next year.

The news was circulated
last week at two public information meetings held at city community centers to
inform residents of the project’s status and expected timeline.

"It was an overview
of the process that has taken place and an update of where they were,"
said Councilman David Toro, who attended one of the meetings. "It was a
good community showing. It was a lot of people I haven’t seen before."

The Colton Crossing is an
at-grade railroad crossing where UP tracks that run east and west intersect
BNSF tracks that go north and south just south of the 10 Freeway. For decades,
one set of trains has had to come to a full stop to allow other trains to pass.
For years, a grade separation project has been discussed that would raise one
set of tracks so trains can cross simultaneously.

In April, it was decided
raising the UP tracks would be the cheapest and easiest to build of six
engineering options that have been proposed, according to Sanbag documents.

Officials estimate the
project will cost about $202 million. About $34 million in Recovery Act funds
and $91 million in state bond money will pay for a majority of the cost. The
remainder will be financed by the railroads.

Construction is expected to
begin in September 2011, officials have said.

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