The State of Illinois is in
a rush to swallow up Federal Stimulus money earmarked for the development of
high-speed rail services, the Illinois Statehouse Examiner reports. However, in
the rush to meet the arbitrary deadlines imposed by the stimulus package, state
officials are giving little consideration to the economic impact of communities
along the high-speed rail system.
(This article appeared the
July-August 2009 St. Croix Chronicle, a publication of the St. Croix Economic
Development Corp.)
Even in the current
economic downturn, it’s been several years of full steam ahead for Twin City
Signal in Hudson, Wis. In order to meet immediate demands for its services, the
railroad signal engineering and design company, founded in Hudson in 1996, has
expanded into an additional facility across from its 7,200-square-foot
headquarters on Livingstone Road. The move nearly doubles its space, and
founder and company president Lee Kisling sees rails and more rails in the future.
Transportation Secretary
Ray LaHood announced that 13 grants totaling $189.8 million in Recovery Act
funds will go to improve state and local transit systems in the United States
while supporting the creation of jobs and providing much needed transportation
options for millions.
On August 24, BART reached
another milestone on a major phase of the Warm Springs Extension project that
will ultimately bring BART closer to Silicon Valley. BART issued a "Notice to
Proceed" to Shimmick Construction Company, Inc./Skanska USA Civil West
California District Inc. Joint Venture, which will allow them to begin the
extensive construction project that will create and support tens of thousands
of jobs and help stimulate Bay Area economy.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn
says Illinois must do what it can to attract jobs to the state, so he signed a
measure encouraging business development along freight rail systems, the
Chicago Tribune reports. A new rail transportation hub is intended for the
Chicago suburb of Joliet and the measure will set aside some state taxes
connected to new jobs created at the facility. The company operating the hub,
CenterPoint Properties, can then get some of that money for infrastructure
improvement, according to the governor’s office.
The Los Angeles Metro Gold Line Foothill
Extension Construction Authority will host a workshop Sept. 15 to inform small
businesses about the more than $600 million in contracting opportunities
available during construction of the light-rail transit line from Pasadena to
Azusa. Presentations by Construction Authority Chief Executive Officer Habib
Balian and others will include information about the project, as well as the
opportunities for small businesses and a procurement schedule.
Joined by local elected
officials from Los Angeles County and nearby cities, Los Angeles City Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa said the completion of exploratory drilling in West Los
Angeles is a key part of the planning and environmental process for the
proposed Westside Subway Extension, a regionally beneficial Measure R
transportation project.
Peter Burling, chairman of
the Rail Transit Authority in New Hampshire, envisions a rail line running
between Boston and Concord, N.H., at speeds of up to 90 mph, the Concord
Monitor reports. The rail would carry Massachusetts shoppers to Nashua and
travelers to Manchester Airport. It would take sports fans to Celtics games and
workers to their jobs in Boston.
The
weekend of August 22-23, Sound Transit crews in the Seattle area will install a
temporary wall comprised of interlocking metal sheets called sheet piles. The
sheet pile wall will be about 60 feet long by 20 feet high and will be vibrated
into place along the shoulder of southbound I-5 next to the Pike-Pine
reversible HOV ramp. The Yale Avenue on-ramp to southbound I-5 and the right
lane of southbound I-5 between Yale Avenue and Union Street will close from
8:00 a.m.- 11:00 p.m. on August 22 and from 8:00a.m.-1:00p.m.on August 23 to
create a safe work zone during the sheet pile wall installation. The off-ramp
from southbound I-5 to Union Street will remain open. This work is anticipated
to take up to two days to complete.
SEPTA has started
renovations to the Girard and Spring Garden stations on the Broad Street
Subway, the transit agency’s largest project funded by the federal American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
John Lanigan, BNSF’s
executive vice president and chief marketing officer, was a keynote speaker at
the groundbreaking of a new rail project to support Vancouver’s Port Terminal 5
expansion in the state of Washington, according to the company newsletter. A
crowd of more than 250 people made up of state and local officials, port and
transportation personnel and area residents attended the official
groundbreaking.
The Massachusetts Executive
Office of Transportation said an historic step toward openness and transparency
by releasing to the public the detailed scheduling and geographic data the MBTA
submitted for use in the Google Transit Trip Planner. The initiative is part of
the Patrick Administration’s commitment to comprehensive transportation reform
and creating a modern, efficient, and customer-friendly transportation system,
U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood today said $298.7 million in American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act dollars will go to NJ TRANSIT for 13 projects that will
improve aging infrastructure, help ease daily commutes and generate jobs across
the region.
Commuters on the Virginia
Railway Express Fredericksburg Line can see that construction has begun on
laying a third track over Franconia Hill, according to Fredericksburg.com. As
hills go, it’s not terribly high: 225 feet above sea level. Franconia Road is
near the crest of the hill in Fairfax County, and the Capital Beltway passes
along the side of the hill a mile farther north.
Chicago Transit Authority
officials August 14 dedicated the new Wellington station on the Brown Line. The
station reopened to customers July 30 after a 16-month temporary closure for
construction as part of the line’s capacity expansion project.
Southwest Washington’s
three-member congressional delegation gathered at the Port of Vancouver to
celebrate the opening of a new marine terminal on the former Alcoa-Evergreen
aluminum site, The Columbian reported. Alcoa this spring finished environmental
cleanup of the 218-acre site, making way for the port to complete its purchase
of the two properties in March for a total of $48.25 million. The port is now
ready to develop the site, zoned for heavy industrial use.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed
Rendell is trying to land $47 million in federal aid to upgrade Harrisburg rail
freight facilities, the Harrisburg Patriot News reports. The money would help
Norfolk Southern add a third unloading track and install additional parking
spaces for trailers at the terminal along Industrial Road.
Norfolk Southern will
construct a new intermodal terminal in Greencastle, Pa., to serve the
Mid-Atlantic region, as part of the railroad’s multi-state Crescent Corridor
initiative to establish a high-speed intermodal freight rail route between the
Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The $95-million facility, at which freight moving
in containers and trailers will be transferred between train and truck, will
occupy a 200-acre site adjacent to the planned Antrim Commons Business Park and
is expected to open in late 2011.
Squabbling in Congress
over how to pay for transportation could mean no federal cash in the near
future to fix Chicago’s freight train bottleneck, a top official warned, the
Daily Herald reports. At a forum on freight
rail, representatives from the U.S. and Canadian governments and the business
community emphasized that trains are cheaper and more fuel-efficient than
trucks to move goods. Transport Canada official Kristine Burr said the public
and private sectors were investing $2 billion in freight rail projects there.
Railroad and economic
development officials are laying tracks to school leaders in hopes of
addressing concerns at McAdory Elementary School that threaten to derail a $112
million Norfolk Southern intermodal hub, the Birmingham News reports.
