A railroad line through Pittsburgh will get $98 million in federal stimulus money for improvements to accommodate bigger freight trains, but officials passed over two other area projects.
The federal Department of Transportation in Wednesday announced the recipients of $1.5 billion in "Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery" grants, funding meant to steer stimulus money to highway, transit and pedestrian projects.
One grant will go to Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland for the "National Gateway Project," a partnership with the railroad company CSX aimed at increasing freight train movements between Northwest Ohio and Chambersburg via tracks that run through Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Western Maryland, said PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters.
Around Pittsburgh, the grant will pay for construction projects so the tracks can accommodate taller trains carrying "double-stacked" freight containers. The tracks will be lowered underneath the Smithfield Street Bridge near Station Square, and at bridges in McKeesport and McKees Rocks. At SouthSide Works, crews will remove old bridges at either end of the J&L Tunnel and raise the tunnel's roof.
The J&L Tunnel is covered by a narrow park between Tunnel Boulevard and South Water Street, separating most of SouthSide Works from the Hofbrauhaus restaurant and future riverfront development.
"The way it's constructed now, the tunnel park is concave, so when they do the tunnel work it will actually bring it up to street level," said Megan Stearman, spokeswoman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is working with CSX on plans for the site.
The project also includes removing a pedestrian bridge at Chestnut Street in Coraopolis and raising the vertical clearance on the bridge over Chartiers Creek in Esplen.
Two other local projects went unfunded: The Port of Pittsburgh Commission applied for $32 million to build a wireless communications network for river shipping; and Port Authority of Allegheny County was seeking $80.7 million to convert several routes to "rapid bus" lines with faster service to Pittsburgh International Airport, Downtown, Oakland, the East End and McKeesport.
"We haven't identified funding for any of the longer-term capital investment parts of the transit development plan," said Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie. "We'll continue to seek grants and other sources of funding for these projects."
By Matthew Santoni
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW