Search Results for: bridges

Orlando airport plans ‘Grand Central’ terminal for Florida’s high-speed rail






When high-speed rail
finally arrives in Central Florida, Orlando International Airport wants to be
ready – with a "Grand Central Station" of terminals that could
include multiple rail lines, food and retail concessions, a hotel and
rental-car counters, officials said March 17, the Orlando Sentinel reports. There
is no estimate yet on how much the terminal would cost or who would pay for it,
though airport leaders said they think state and federal officials should
provide most of the money.

N.Y. losing track of rail project funds?






Freight railroad officials
are wondering what happened to the tens of millions of dollars from a 2005 bond
issue that was to be invested in rail and port improvements, Albany Times-Union
reports. Just $70 million of the $186 million earmarked has been spent, none of
that in the past two years. Instead, rail officials grouse, state officials
continue to review $200 million in grant requests submitted before Oct. 1,
2008.

Railroad lists upgrades in a pitch for customers






Improvements by Pan Am
Southern to the rail route from Mechanicville, N.Y., to Ayer, Mass., in the
last year have increased capacity and speeds on the line and have the company
looking at further opportunities in New England, including the Fitchburg area,
the Worcester Telegram reports.

Parsons Brinckerhoff marks 125th anniversary






Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB)
is celebrating its 125th year as a New York City-based international
engineering giant. In 1885, William Barclay Parsons established a consulting
engineering practice at 22 William Street in Lower Manhattan. Since then, PB
has continued to play leading roles on transportation, power, buildings, and
environmental projects throughout the world. Today, the firm is a strategic
consulting, planning, engineering and program/construction management
organization with approximately 14,000 employees in 150 offices on six
continents.

Dulles Rail construction marks year of progress






Since the Federal Transit
Administration’s approval of $900 million in "new starts" funds to
complete the financial package for construction of Phase 1 of the Dulles
Corridor Metrorail Project in northern Virginia in March 2009, construction has started all along
the 11-mile alignment from East Falls Church to Reston. More than 95 percent of the
construction of manholes and duct banks necessary for relocating the 21 utilities
in the Route 7 alignment area has been completed. Some overhead power lines
have been permanently removed and utility crews are now working in those
manholes underground to connect the new lines.

BNSF Burlington, Iowa, bridge project adjusts






Engineers who design
facilities and structures live in a cycle of planning and planning again, the
BNSF electronic employee newsletter reports. But sometimes, even with the best
of planning and looking "around the corner," a surprise comes along
that requires a different approach. That’s what happened with the Burlington,
Iowa, bridge project, which involves rebuilding a bridge originally built in
1867-1868.

Caltrain construction, maintenance Feb. 26 – March 5






March 1-4, between 8 p.m.
and 4 a.m., crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade Crossing
Improvement Program. Work will take place in Redwood City at Main Street and Chestnut
Street; in Menlo Park at Encinal Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood
Avenue; and in Atherton at Fair Oaks Lane.

 

Unclogging rail traffic key to fuel efficiency






When the Department of
Transportation doled out $1.5 billion in infrastructure grants last week, one
of the largest checks went to a rail overhaul in the Chicago area, the New York
Times reports. Almost all of the country’s freight railroads converge there.
The region handles so much cargo that only three cities outrank it: Hong Kong,
Singapore and Shanghai.

New York high-speed rail plans taking shape






Having been largely shut
out of federal high-speed rail funding, New York transportation officials are
turning their attention to a handful of rail projects that did win federal
support – including the first tangible piece of the long-sought high-speed
passenger rail corridor across upstate New York, the Rochester Democrat and
Chronicle reports.

 

Caltrain construction, maintenance Feb. 21 – 26






Feb. 21-25, between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program. Work will take place at the following locations:

• Burlingame: Broadway, Oak
Grove Avenue and Peninsula Avenue.

• Redwood City: Main Street
and Chestnut Street.

• San Mateo: Villa Terrace
Avenue, First Avenue, Second Avenue, Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue
and Ninth Avenue.

• Menlo Park: Encinal
Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood Avenue.

• Atherton: Fair Oaks Lane.

BNSF Burlington, Iowa, bridge work shifts navigation span






After a month-long delay,
work is under way again to replace a portion of the BNSF bridge over the Mississippi
River at Burlington. Iowa, only now the project will be shifted 75 feet east. After
discovering debris on the riverbed that prevented the contractor from drilling
a foundation for a new pier, construction was halted while the U.S. Coast Guard
reassessed relocating the navigation channel, The Hawk Eye reports.

CSX to move Massachusetts operations






CSX Corp. is set to begin
discussions with officials in Worcester, Westboro, East Brookfield and West
Springfield, Mass., about plans to shift more freight operations out of Boston
to freight yards in those communities, the Worcester Times reports. The changes
come as part of a plan to expand commuter rail service on the Boston to
Worcester line and to raise bridges between Route 128 and New York to make room
for double-stacked freight trains.

Secretary LaHood announces funding for over 50 transportation projects






Slide 1

One year to the day after
President Obama signed the historic American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into
law, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood will announce Recovery Act awards
to states, tribal governments, cities, counties and transit agencies across the
country to fund 51 innovative transportation projects.

Caltrain construction, maintenance Feb. 14 – 21






Feb. 16-18, between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program. Work will take place at the following locations: Oak
Grove Avenue and Peninsula Avenue in Burlingame; Main Street and Chestnut
Street In Redwood City; Villa Terrace Avenue and First Avenue in San Mateo; Encinal
Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood Avenue in Menlo Park;
and Fair Oaks Lane in Atherton.

Caltrain construction, maintenance Feb. 6-12






Feb. 6-11, between the
hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. crews will be finishing up work on Caltrain’s Grade
Crossing Improvement Program. Work will take place at the following locations: in
Burlingame at Oak Grove Avenue and Peninsula Avenue; in Redwood City at Main
Street and Chestnut Street; in San Mateo at Villa Terrace Avenue and First
Avenue; and in Menlo Park at Encinal Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue and
Ravenswood Avenue

NY MTA fails to honestly rate contractors’ work, report says






Outside contractors working
on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s biggest projects are
routinely given positive evaluations despite mediocre work, in part to preserve
business relationships, an investigation by the authority’s inspector general
has found, the New York Times repots.

Amtrak to perform high-speed rail improvement study in Michigan






February 14, 2001

Stressing the importance of
its intercity passenger rail service in Michigan, Amtrak said it will perform a
high-speed rail improvement study that will focus on determining what
infrastructure upgrades are needed to provide 110 mph train service on the
Norfolk Southern-owned rail corridor between Kalamazoo and Detroit.