Posted April 5, 200619 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060405/NEWS11/604050469/-1/NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published April 5, 2006 Northwood meeting set for rail overpasses State plans for two overpasses on Wales Road that would eliminate three railroad crossings in Northwood will be the subject of an Ohio Department of Transportation meeting late this afternoon at the Northwood administration building. The design is similar to that presented at previous meetings, but a realigned Wales is not as far south as it had been in prior versions, Mike Ligibel, ODOT's district planning administrator in Bowling Green, said yesterday. MOre atr link above
April 5, 200619 yr Is there anything online (or at this site) about the state's program? All these articles you have posted have made me curious.
April 5, 200619 yr I'm doing the cost estimate for this project right now....anybody want me to work something in for them, like a public transportation system for your town? :wink2: I will be turning in Stage 1 plans at the end of April (woo-hoo!).....Just hope ODOT doesn't make many changes between now and Stage 2 :whip:
April 5, 200619 yr BTW, that graphic is incorrect. We're not going to be removing the South Drouillard Rd. pavement as The Blade is showing. Also there will be cul-de-sac's on both sides of the Norfolk Southern RR tracks where existing Wales Rd. used to cross.
April 5, 200619 yr inkalein.... here ya go..... info on ODOT's grade separation program. It is a ten-year, $200-million dollar program. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/rgsp/default.htm Rail Grade Separation Program Ohio is one of the first states in the nation to establish a successful program to specifically address rail/highway grade separation projects. The Rail Grade Separation Program, developed under the direction of Governor Taft, is a 10 year $200 million program led by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC). The program addresses safety, mobility and economic development concerns for Ohio’s local communities. During the application period Ohio selected the 30 projects that will be funded by the program. To date seven of these projects have been awarded for construction. The criteria in the project selection process included: safety, train frequency, traffic volume, community impacts, lack of nearby alternative routes to avoid train blockages, and project costs. Funding for this initiative is provided by ODOT, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, the Ohio Legislature, Federal Highway Administration, CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads, and the local project sponsors. For information on projects selected: Here also is alink to the list of projects..... http://www.dot.state.oh.us/rgsp/Excel/RRGradeSepProgramnet3.xls
November 10, 200618 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/NEWS11/611100425/-1/NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published November 10, 2006 Northwood struggles to fund bridge over tracks Kaptur switch put project behind $4M By DAVID PATCH BLADE STAFF WRITER As U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) arranged to reassign $3 million of a federal grant from a Northwood construction project to one in Sandusky, an Ohio Department of Transportation committee was deciding to fund the Sandusky project entirely with state dollars. More at link above:
November 12, 200618 yr Looks like this project is fading fast. This could have been a truly great project not only for Northwood (in terms of helping unite a divided city), but for Toledo and the state (in terms of removing a major impediment to the Ohio Hub) as well as nationally (in terms of making two nationally significant rail freight lines more fluid). Oh well. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
November 12, 200618 yr And there lies the problem.... both the highway overpasses and the grade separation of the two rail lines are needed. But because the railroads do not have the $$$$ in their capital budgets for their share of the cost of eliminating the rail bottleneck, the whole project may go down the tubes. This rail bottleneck is not only one of several around Ohio whose elimination is critical to building the Ohio Hub, but also critical to the movement of more freight by rail .... which takes more of the load off of our highways. What's even more frustrating is that these are the kind of projects that would be easily do-able if we had both better level of funding at the state level for rail infrastructure projects and a reliable and dedicated source of funding for rail projects at the federal level. It's hard to blame the railroads, because their capital funds are limited. Yet they must compete with highways and air modes whose infrastructure are heavily subsidized by the feds and states.
November 22, 200618 yr http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/NEWS11/611220366/-1/NEWS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article published November 22, 2006 Wales Road spans still a priority, state says Plan to ease delays by trains lost $4M grant By DAVID PATCH BLADE STAFF WRITER The Ohio Department of Transportation said that building two bridges on Wales Road to eliminate train-related traffic delays remains a top priority even if a $4 million federal grant for the project has been lost, ODOT Director Gordon Proctor wrote last week in a letter to Northwood Mayor Mark Stoner. More at link above:
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