THE US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced details of the projects that will receive grant funding under the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) and Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (Infra) programmes in the 2023-24 financial year.
They include 12 rail-related projects that will receive $US 1.6bn of the combined $US 4.9bn that Mega and Infra will provide for a total of 37 projects across the United States.
Created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Mega programme has been allocated $US 5bn of funding up until 2026. It focuses on projects that are “uniquely large, complex and difficult to fund under traditional grant programmes,” USDOT says.
Projects eligible for federal funding under the Mega programme include intermodal or rail freight projects providing public benefit, as well as those involving level crossing elimination, inter-city passenger rail or public transport.
The Infra programme, which received a 50% funding increase under BIL, also targets what USDOT describes as “large-scale, transformational infrastructure projects” that improve the “safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of freight and people in and across rural and urban areas.”
Eligible projects include intermodal freight and rail freight, level crossing elimination, wildlife crossings, projects increasing the throughput efficiency of international border crossings, and freight projects on the National Multimodal Freight Network.
The Mega programme is supporting five rail projects in the current funding round. These include the America’s Green Gateway project at the Port of Long Beach in California, where the city of Long Beach will receive $US 283.4m to increase capacity at the North and South yards for container trains.
At the North Yard, two new mainline tracks will be provided, together with five 3000m receiving and departure tracks and 26 storage tracks. Seven new 914m new storage tracks will be laid at the South Yard, where seven exiting tracks will be renewed and extended. The project will also improve connections with the BNSF and Union Pacific (UP) networks.
In Florida, the city of Stuart will receive $US 130.5m towards the project to replace the 100-year-old rail bridge across the St Lucie River with a new double-track structure. This will provide significantly improved clearance for shipping and avoid the need to close the current bridge to rail traffic when ships need to pass through its lifting section.
This will benefit both freight and passenger operations, as the new Brightline service between Orlando and south Florida is expected to result in an additional 32 train movements across the bridge every day. By avoiding the need for trains to stop, the new bridge should reduce the potential for level crossings to be blocked by trains and avoid collisions with road vehicles.
The project to replace the bridge carrying the Interstate 5 highway over the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver in Washington state will receive $US 600m. The new bridge will make provision for a new light rail line, according USDOT.
The Port of New Orleans will receive $US 73.8m towards the Louisiana International Terminal Project, involving the construction of a new container terminal on the Gulf Coast for vessels that are too large to use terminals located farther inland on the Mississippi River. The project includes building a rail yard for intermodal trains and realigning Norfolk Southern (NS) infrastructure.
Infra funding awards
The Louisiana International Terminal Project is being delivered under public-private partnership (PPP) and will also receive $US 226.2m under the Infra grant programme, which is supporting a total of eight rail projects in the 2023-24 funding round.
Infra rail grants also include $US 17.1m for Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) to replace the bridge across the Chena River on the branch that connects the ARRC main line at Fairbanks with Fort Wainwright and the US Air Force (USAF) base at Eielson. This will reduce emissions by improving the movement of bulk cargo and intermodal consignments by rail.
In California, the North County Transit District (NCTD) will receive $US 53.9m to replace the railway bridge over the San Dieguito River, a 107-year-old single-track wooden trestle. The new bridge will be double track with the deck height raised by 2.44m to account for rising sea levels.
The Nevada Department of Transportation has been awarded $US 28m for improvements at Elko Yard on UP’s Overland Route. These will include two new power-operated crossovers between existing bi-directional tracks and a new track to divert trains around the yard during infrastructure maintenance work.
New and upgraded signalling will include an interface with the Positive Train Control (PTC) system. The project is expected to reduce delays to UP freight trains by an average of 2h 30min, on a corridor currently handling 14 to 19 trains a day carrying cost-sensitive exports and significant import traffic between the West Coast and Midwest.
“We are advancing projects so large, complex and ambitious that they could not get funded under the infrastructure programmes that existed prior to the Biden administration,” says US transportation secretary, Mr Pete Buttigieg.
“Our Infra and Mega programmes are helping build the cathedrals of American infrastructure: truly transformative projects that will change entire regions and our entire country for the better.”
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