This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
9/27/2011
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) continues to obligate high-speed rail grants at a steady pace. After announcing several grant awards for a handful of states last week, the department today announced grant approvals for North Carolina, Virginia and Delaware. USDOT has obligated a total of $48.3 million to North Carolina and Virginia to advance work on the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor, which will link Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va.
Virginia will receive $44.3 million to conduct an environmental analysis and preliminary engineering for a project to construct a high-speed rail segment between Washington, D.C. and Richmond. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) will contribute $3.9 million toward the project. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will receive $4 million to conduct environmental and design work for the construction of a connection between Raleigh and Richmond. The project could reduce travel time between the cities by 90 minutes, to just two hours. NCDOT and DRPT will contribute $3.9 million toward the project. Meanwhile, the USDOT obligated a $13.3 million grant to the Delaware Department of Transportation to add a third track just south of the Wilmington station. The project will eliminate a chokepoint on the Northeast Corridor, improve on-time performance, and increase schedule flexibility on Amtrak’s Acela and Northeast Regional services, as well as local commuter-rail service, according to the USDOT. The work calls for constructing 1.5 miles of third track, adding two crossovers and replacing a bridge. The Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration will contribute a combined $38.4 million toward the project.