Arizona county receives TIGER V grant for Tucson port rail project

Pima County, Ariz., last week officially received a $5 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery V (TIGER V) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for rail improvements at the Port of Tucson. The USDOT had announced TIGER V grant recipients in September 2013.

The grant proceeds will help fund a $13 million project at the port, which is adjacent to a Union Pacific Railroad mainline and Interstate 10. The project calls for extending a siding and installing high-powered switches so UP trains don't need to slow down or stop when arriving at the export container rail facility, and building a double-loop track so unit trains can simultaneously be loaded and unloaded at the inland port.

"Currently, the port is the only location in Arizona that can accommodate large loads, such as pipeline or wind tower components, but unit trains must pass through a manual switch before entering the port, creating delays on adjacent roadways and the UP mainline," county officials wrote in their TIGER V grant application. "By automating the switches for trains entering the port, this project will reduce congestion and delays experienced by motorists and other trains."

The project also will help provide a seamless transition for export cargo heading to international markets through West Coast and Gulf Coast ports, they claim. The rail improvements augment an agreement to fill empty containers at the port rather than return them empty to Midwest points of origin, offering manufacturing and commodity exporters a direct rail connection to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, county officials added.