Drivers may have to pay
more at the pump so train riders can have an easier commute into New York City –
as well as improved highways and repaired bridges, the Newark, N.J., Star
Ledger reports. But they likely won’t have New Jersey to blame for raising
taxes on gasoline.
Rebuilding Metra’s fourth
busiest stop, the 80th Avenue station in tinley Park, Ill.,, has been near the top of that suburb’s wish list for years, according to the Chicago Tribune. More than $7 million in
Metra, federal, state and local funding was budgeted for the station overhaul,
and Tinley Park officials had a host of things they wanted done.
Greenville, N.C.,
officials will break ground on a railway connector track Nov. 30 that should
relieve the majority of traffic backups caused by the railroad switching
station, The Daily Reflector reports. Vehicles are held up as often as three times daily on
Arlington Boulevard, 14th and Evans streets while trains change direction in
that area.
Unlike a normal railroad
grade crossing, at which cars must stop to let trains go by, the one proposed
for the rail spur leading into the Calverton Enterprise Park would be just the
opposite, the Riverhead, N.Y., Times Review reports. A freight train using the
spur would come to a complete stop prior to crossing River Road, a conductor
would get off and check for any cars, and would then signal the train to cross
the street.
Watco
Transportation Services, Inc., began operations of a new railroad, the Boise
Valley Railroad on November 23. Additional manpower and locomotive resources
were on hand to provide effective first day service on both the 11-mile Wilder
Branch and the 25-mile Boise Cut-off. Each job left the yard with more than 40
railcars.
Union Pacific opened its
Donner Pass route to domestic double-stack intermodal container freight traffic
Nov. 19, marking the completion of a 12-month project designed to move customer
products over a shorter, faster and more efficient route.
Illinois State Rep. Don
Moffitt called Galesburg, Ill., "the crossroads of America," while delivering
the keynote address at the 31st annual Community Thanksgiving Luncheon,
according to The Register-Mail. Moffitt spoke of things for which he was
thankful. Topping the list was a vision to help BNSF as the foundation of
economic development in Galesburg.
A special lawmaking session
on high-speed and commuter rail inched closer as legislative leaders and the
governor said they are ready to tap surplus money in the transportation budget
rather than raise taxes on rental cars to help pay for the transit projects,
the Miami Herald reports. The surplus money — about $76 million over the next
two years — should be enough to help fill a hole in South Florida’s Tri-Rail
system.
The chairman of the Sauk
County, Wis., Board called for closer coordination between parties involved in
railroad projects that could have economic impacts the area, the Baraboo News
Republic reports.
Dallas Area Rapid
Transit’s light rail expansion is being recognized as one of the Top 100 Global
Infrastructure Projects, compiled by the Washington, D.C., consulting firm CG/LA
Infrastructure LLC.
The new US 62/US 641
Tennessee River Bridge below Kentucky Dam should be opened to traffic Nov. 25,
the West Kentucky Star reports. US 62 and US 641, which run concurrently
through the area, have been closed at the site since September 9 and traffic
detoured via Interstate 24 as the new bridge approaches were completed and
connected to existing highways.
In its continuing efforts
to improve lighting inside Metrorail stations, Washington, D.C., Metro
officials are testing a new bank of lights on the mezzanine level at one
entrance to the Judiciary Square Metrorail station – the F Street entrance.
The Maryland Transit
Administration is advising Metro Subway customers of the completion of recent
track maintenance that had affected weekend service since mid-June. Customer
wait times for weekend trains have returned to the regular schedule of every 15
minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. Approximately one mile of the main line was
single-tracked throughout the four-month long maintenance project that was
completed this month. Weekday operation was not impacted.
A special ribbon-cutting
ceremony was attended by SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey, Pennsylvania State
Representative Joshua D. Shapiro and local government and community leaders at
Crestmont (R2) Regional Rail station.
Five years ago Nov. 23,
Metro, the District of Columbia and the New York Avenue partners opened the New
York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metrorail station on the Red Line. Since its
opening, ridership has climbed at the station each year and the station has
become a catalyst for economic development.
As traffic continues to
build up in Hampton Roads, Va., the money to add more roads or expand them is
drying up on the state and federal level. Virginia DOT doesn’t plan to give a
cent to local cities for road projects for the next six years. Virginia’s
Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer says drivers in Hampton Roads need to
look at alternative transportation like light rail.
The New Mexico Rail
Runner slips into Santa Fe on new tracks with modern signals to guard
crossings. But the old tourist train travels to Lamy, N.M., on outdated
infrastructure, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. That discrepancy was
highlighted recently when the Santa Fe Southern Railway tourist train collided
with a car crossing the spur line on Rabbit Road, just south of the city
limits.
BNSF has agreed to fund a
significant amount of the cost of closing eight railroad crossings in Galesburg,
Ill., to develop quiet zones, according to city engineer Wayne Carl,
The
Register-Mail reports.
Amtrak is making major
investments in the New York area to bring its bridges, tracks and other
infrastructure up to a state of good repair, increase track speeds and improve
operations, including a soon-to-start $10-million project to rehabilitate the
Pelham Bay Bridge located along the Northeast Corridor.
Work is now under way on
a construction project that will completely replace the 80-year old Vandeventer
Bridge is St. Louis. The bridge currently supports three rail tracks: two for
MetroLink, and a third for limited freight use. Constructed in 1929, the
bridge that spans Vandeventer Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the City of St.
Louis, is experiencing significant settling and deterioration. In addition, the
bridge is supported by four piers that are obstacles to vehicular traffic.
