http://www.newhavenindependent.org/inde ... t/id_45410
Gulf Oil may be able to trade some of its gas-guzzling trucks for train cars by the end of 2013, as the state moves forward with a plan to curb highway traffic by extending rail lines to the harbor’s shipping docks.Sounds like a missed opportunity for some good street running.
Judith Sheiffele, executive director of the New Haven Port Authority, said the city has long sought to connect rail lines to the harborside shipping terminals as part of a larger plan to revitalize the port. A first phase of the project was completed in 2006, bringing train tracks across Forbes Avenue and alongside Waterfront Street, through the heart of the city’s port district, and to the doorstep of Logistec, which welcomed the chance to send heavy steel coils by rail. In 2009, a southern spur was installed.
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However, the new rail lines have been used only twice since their installation, according to Sheiffele.
Four companies in the port still can’t easily access the new tracks—they’re waiting for the final phase of the project, which would run rail spurs directly across Waterfront Street into their terminals. The work should cost about $2 million, paid for by a federal grant that aims to improve air quality and alleviate traffic congestion, Sheiffele said.
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The port had functioning train tracks until the 1990s, Sheiffele said. They ran right down the middle of Waterfront Street, in the lane of traffic. Two factors contributed to their demise: The state redid the Tomlinson Bridge, shifting the tracks to the northern side of the bridge. And federal regulations prohibited trains from sharing a travel lane with motor vehicles.
Next stop, Willoughby
~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
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~el Jefe :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner; Carman at Naugatuck Railroad
YouTube Instagram Facebook