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9/18/2023
The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) recently approved a $1.2 million grant for the Newburgh & South Shore Railroad (NSR) to help fund a yard rehabilitation project in Cuyahoga Heights.
NSR will match the grant to cover a total project cost of $2.5 million. The project will include the replacement of 3,580 ties, ballast distribution and track surfacing in the yard. Additionally, seven turnouts and 1,267 feet of rail will be replaced, ORDC officials said in a press release.
The ORDC also approved a $750,000 grant to help Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. (W&LE) replace a bridge superstructure over State Route 7 in Mingo Junction.
The project's cost is estimated at $1.9 million. In March, the ORDC approved a grant up to $250,000 to help W&LE accelerate pier repairs on the bridge. The railroad had planned structural repairs to the bridge’s steel piers and encase the piers in concrete. The planned additional repairs to the bridge’s superstructure will begin in fall.
W&LE officials subsequently determined that complete replacement of the bridge’s superstructure (constructed on the existing repaired piers) would be a more cost-effective and longer-lasting solution. The new solution will require less frequent and less intensive maintenance, thus reducing future traffic delays for the more than 11,000 vehicles that use State Route 7 each day.