Surface Transportation Program (STP)
Total Funding: $33.3 billion over six years.
Eligibility: Applicable for almost any roadway improvements on any Federal-aid highway, including NHS. Improvements to accommodate other modes, including rail freight, are eligible uses. The STP program allows the use of federal funds to pay for adjustments to highway elements to accommodate a rail line, including lengthening or increasing vertical clearances of bridges, adjusting drainage facilities, lighting, signing or utilities, or making minor adjustments to highway alignments. Ten percent of a state's STP apportionment must be reserved for safety construction programs, including safety improvements at railroad-highway crossings. These improvements have included relocation of a portion of a rail line where this is less costly than eliminating existing crossing by grade separations or relocating the highway. For further information see FHWA's web-site at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/factsheets/stp.htm
Examples of approved rail and rail-related projects under STP:
McMinnville Highway-Railroad Crossing Corridor Safety Project (Oregon).
ODOT serves as coordinator for a project to upgrade nine existing highway-railroad grade crossings, where four crossings are being closed and one new crossing is being constructed through the city of McMinnville. The nine crossing upgrades include adding train-activated automatic gates and flashing light signals, new improved roadway approaches to the crossings, new crossing track surfacing and the construction of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant sidewalks. Total cost of the project is approximately $1.7 million, with $1.1 million of STP funds.
Independence Highway-Railroad Crossing Corridor Safety Project (Oregon).
Three existing highway-railroad grade crossings are being upgraded and three highway-railroad grade crossings are being closed through the city of Independence. The three crossing upgrades include adding train activated automatic gates and flashing light signals, new improved roadway approaches to the crossings, new crossing track surfacing and the construction of ADA-compliant sidewalks. The closures include curbs, drainage inlets and culdesacs. Total cost of the project is approximately $900,000 with $800,000 of STP funds.
Jefferson at Main Street Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing Safety Project (Oregon).
An existing dangerous highway-railroad grade crossing is being re-built to improve the existing humped crossing to meet vertical profile standards, improve the truck turning radius, and interconnect the train activated automatic gates and flashing light signals with a new traffic light on an adjacent state highway. The project includes crossing track surfacing, bike lanes, and ADA-compliant sidewalks across the tracks. The approaches to the crossing will be rebuilt to match the design of a future county road widening project. The total project cost is about $900,000 with $800,000 of STP funds.
Ventura County
Transportation Commission (California).
The Ventura MPO is purchasing two partially abandoned rail corridors, one existing rail corridor, 40 miles of rail track, and contiguous land. Freight rail service is expected to expand under the new plan, with some truck movements avoided by the improved railroad connections to the Port of Hueneme. Projected funding for acquisition of the rail branch lines consists of $4.2 million in STP grants, $3.5 million in STP Enhancement funds, and $1.0 million in local matching funds
Hiawatha Line Improvements (Illinois and Wisconsin).
STP and interstate maintenance funds are being used for Amtrak's Hiawatha line connecting Chicago to Milwaukee to maintain rail passenger service, which will mitigate construction impacts and traffic disruption while a nearby interstate highway is under construction.
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement
Total Funds: $8.1 billion over six years.
Eligibility: Transportation projects that will reduce carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matter in Clean Air Act non-attainment and maintenance areas. Intermodal freight facility improvements are eligible, and project approvals have included rail and barge freight facilities as a substitute for truck movements.
Eligibility now includes MAGLEV Transportation Technology Deployment Program projects and has been expanded to promote public-private partnerships. For further information, see FHWA's web-site at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/factsheets/cmaq.htm
Examples of approved rail and rail-related projects under CMAQ:
Columbia Slough Intermodal Expansion Bridge (Oregon).
This rail bridge over the slough, directly connecting the railroad to the Port of Portland, was completed in 1997 with $1 million in CMAQ funds. The project should yield reduced emissions as trucks no longer need to dray freight from the port to the railroad. The bridge project initially received funding as an ISTEA demonstration project with additional funding provided by the Port of Portland, the Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Reorganization of Bensenville Rail Yard in North West Chicago (Illinois).
Canadian Pacific Railway is reengineering its yard in Bensenville, upgrading its west end access and egress, and ultimately rerouting some of its trains. The upgrade includes new track, interlocking, and signals, allowing increased train speeds. There will be public benefits in significantly reduced traffic conflict due to fewer at-grade crossings. The CMAQ share of the cost is $2.1 million for aspects of the reengineering that have public benefits.
Waterville, Maine.
Construction of a truck-to-rail transfer facility was completed in Waterville, Maine in 1998. Guilford Transportation Industries contributed funds to build track and trailer storage. CMAQ funds were used to purchase lift equipment. There was no financial participation by Maine DOT. This project allowed diversion of trailers and containers to rail, reducing heavy truck miles and emissions, and freed up state funds for use in other transportation projects.
The Office of Freight Transportation, Maine Department of Transportation, has been concentrating on funding smaller incremental improvments to rail access facilities, such as adding rail siding and spur tracks. Through their Industrial Rail Access Program (IRAP), Maine DOT solicits projects in a competitive process, ranks the projects on several economic and air quality criteria, and funds the projects with General Fund monies, supplemented with CMAQ funds as appropriate. Through a 50 percent participation in project costs by the state, Maine leverages the balance from private and federal funds. One such project constructed and rehabilitated track in South Portland to provide previously unavailable rail access into gravel pits, enabling access to the pits from oceanbound containers carrying clay.
Morristown Branch Line (New Jersey).
The Morristown and Erie Railway, Inc., a county- owned railroad that shares trackage with NJ Transit, is using CMAQ funds to rehabilitate a branch line that will allow it to provide service to a new Toys-R-Us regional distribution center.
Gorham Railroad Bridge Project (New Hampshire).
A $750,000 bridge clearance project in Gorham to allow double-stack container service from Auburn, Maine to Chicago, Illinois, approved under the innovative financing program, used a flexible match of $150,000 in private funds from the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad in lieu of state funds. The project also received $600,000 in CMAQ funds. Although the project is in an air quality attainment area , it will reduce emissions along the nonattainment areas of the I-95 corridor by shifting motor freight to double-stack trains.
