The U.S. Department of Transportation signed off on 180 infrastructure grants totaling more than $3.2 billion today, jumpstarting a series of projects aimed at improving railroads, ports, highways, airports and more. These grants had been previously announced and have now moved to the agreement stage.
The Federal Railroad Administration will receive funding for several initiatives, chief among them the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements. Six CRISI projects will receive a total of $221 million in federal grants, including:
- $157 million to the city of Springfield, Ill., for the final usable segment of the Springfield Rail Improvements Project, including construction of a Multimodal Transportation Center
- $20.4 million to the Michigan Department of Transportation for the Manistee River Bridge Replacement Project
- $15.3 million to the Keokuk Junction Railway for tie and rail upgrades
- $10.3 million to the Missouri Department of Transportation for the Thayer-North Rail Corridor At-Grade Consolidation & Safety Improvement Project
- $9.6 million to the Seminole Gulf Railway LP for the Southwest Florida Rail Corridor Enhancement for Growth Project
- $8.8 million to the Maryland Transit Administration for the Penn-Camden Connector Project
In addition, the Massachusetts DOT and Illinois DOT will receive $3.6 million and $500,000, respectively, for Corridor Identification and Development Programs. MassDOT will explore the Boston and Albany Corridor while Illinois DOT will advance the Chicago-to-Quad Cities Service Extension Program.
FRA also will award funds for 14 railroad crossing elimination projects totaling $25 million.
“$157 million to the city of Springfield, Ill., for the final usable segment of the Springfield Rail Improvements Project, including construction of a Multimodal Transportation Center”
The new multi-modal center is already under construction and 70% of the UP relocation is done. The section up to Carpenter Street has been cleared out.
This a little bit of rehashing old news since these are grants that are already awarded. The press release is basically announcing that these projects are successfully making it through the paperwork phase (agreement and obligation). There are mechanisms that allow work to begin before all the paperwork is finished, and this may be why you see construction already occurring in Springfield (especially if it is an ongoing project.) I have heard they have started work on the Manistee River Bridge as well.