The Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA) said that a bid solicitation has been issued to
construct a pedestrian overcrossing alongside the south side of Blossom Hill
Road where it crosses Monterey Highway and Union Pacific tracks in south San
Jose, Calif.
A brick-and-glass state
office building on the banks of Lake Monona, just a few blocks from the
Wisconsin Capitol and the rest of downtown Madison, shows no outward sign that
it has become the focal point of one of the most heated – and unexpected –
debates to divide this state’s Democrats and Republicans in a crucial election
year, the Stateline reports.
New Jersey is temporarily
shutting down all new work and suspending additional contract bids on an $8.7-billion
railway tunnel to New York because federal officials say the project may go as
much as a billion dollars over budget – money New Jersey doesn’t have, The Star-Ledger
reports.
As soon as early next year,
the amount of freight rail traffic on the main line that runs through Pottstown,
Pa., is likely to increase, the Mercury reports. Also likely to increase is the
amount of tractor-trailer traffic in the vicinity of the former Bethlehem Steel
plant off Industrial Highway and South Keim Street.
A century ago, downtown
Vancouver, Wash., was built into a corner. The BNSF line and the berm on which
it sits have separated the city center from the industrial yards along the
Columbia River, The Oregonian reports. The city recently broke ground on a
project to punch through the berm, giving downtown access to the waterfront and
giving developers access to the 31 acres they intend to turn into offices,
retail space and 3,300 residences.
Officials from the city
of Sioux Falls, S.D., the state of South Dakota and BNSF celebrated the closure
of the 5,000th grade crossing on BNSF’s rail network, setting a new
national record for grade-crossing closures and safety improvement.
Norfolk Southern’s
Heartland Corridor – one of the most extensive railroad engineering projects in
modern times and a template for public-private partnerships that strengthen the
nation’s transportation infrastructure – officially opened for business Sept. 9.
A summit bringing together
parties from all sides of the North Charleston commercial rail debate was
always likely to be somewhat contentious, the Charleston Regional Business
Journal reports. But an economic impact study released by a public-private
partnership could ratchet up tensions ahead of the Sept. 9 meeting of the
Review and Oversight Commission on the State Ports Authority.
Steel on steel plus speed
equals noise. No doubt about it – sometimes a ride on BART can be noisy. If you’ve
ever tried to hold a conversation going through the Transbay Tube, you know it
can be difficult to hear.
The Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and BNSF signed an agreement that
ultimately will result in more frequent and more reliable Amtrak Cascades
service between Seattle and Portland.
NJ Transit has applied for
$885 million in new federal funding to pay for renewal and replacement of aging
components of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between Trenton, N.J., and
Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, the Times Herald-Record reports.
A pair of businesses that
flank the Chester Branch railroad have said they plan to take advantage of the rail
line that is being rebuilt with federal stimulus funding, the Daily Record
reports.
Representatives of the Metropolitan Council and the University of Minnesota have reached agreement on a plan to protect university research facilities from vibration and electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by the Central Corridor light rail transit project.
The agreement came after a lengthy series of mediation sessions conducted by retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Lebedoff. The pact still requires approval by the full Met Council and by the University Board of Regents.
The lengthy agreement specifies the mitigation systems that will be used to protect university labs from vibration and EMI, establishes performance standards for those systems, provides for testing and monitoring to ensure compliance and provides for remedies if the standards are not met.
As part of the agreement, the University will grant the temporary and permanent easements required for the Central Corridor project and drop the lawsuit it filed against the project in September 2009.
The 11-mile, $957 million LRT line will operate on University and Washington avenues between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis, connecting with the existing Hiawatha line near the Metrodome. Construction of the project already is underway and is scheduled for completion in 2014.
As discussed previously, the agreement calls for the installation of:
• Floating slabs under approximately 1,450 feet of both tracks at various locations along Washington Avenue between Pleasant and Harvard Streets to absorb train-caused ground-borne vibration that might adversely affect University research labs.
• Dual-split power supply beneath about 3,150 feet of tracks along Washington Avenue between the east end of the Washington Avenue bridge and Ontario Street to cancel out train-caused EMI that might adversely affect University labs.
The agreement also establishes a framework for LRT construction activities, including limits for noise, dust and vibration during construction.
On August 26, Denver’s RTD
broke ground on the $1-billion East Corridor commuter rail line, the largest
single rail project in the voter-approved FasTracks program. The groundbreaking
ceremony was held at Denver International Airport on the south lawn of the
Jeppesen Terminal, the future site of the DIA rail station. Federal and local
officials participated in the ceremony, including Sen. Mark Udall, Rep. Diana
DeGette, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Aurora Mayor Ed
Tauer.
The Seattle-area Sound
Transit Board of Directors authorized the award of the construction contract
for the Sounder D-to-M Streets Track and Signal project to low-bidder
MidMountain Contractors, Inc. The project will build a new commuter rail line
from East D to South M Streets in Tacoma.
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.
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.
TriMet in the Portland,
Ore., area is nearing completion on work to improve safety and security at the
Gresham Central MAX station. This pilot project-the first of its kind in the
TriMet system-includes installation of barrier railing. The project also
includes improved lighting and making the platforms a fare zone. This change
allows fare inspection to occur on the platform rather than after riders board
the train. Other work at the station includes painting the shelters and
pedestrian enhancements that help orient riders to be more alert to approaching
trains.
A new study of the Port
of Vancouver’s signature project – a planned 27-mile expansion of rail tracks
to speed cargo and handle more of it – says the port will have to borrow as
much as $75 million to cover a shortfall and should adopt plans to avoid cost
overruns, The Columbian reports.
