Danbury branch stations win funding
The State Bond Commission approved $6.3 million to expand parking at Metro-North stations in Norwalk, Redding and Bethel.
Some $5 million of that amount is reserved for improvements at the Merritt 7 station in Wilton, which is also to see improvements to its platform and bridge. The station”™s parking lot can currently accommodate about 90 vehicles.
M-8”™s delayed by snafu
As of mid-June, Metro-North was operating three train sets using 26 new M-8 cars from Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., with the Japan earthquake and tsunami having had no impact on deliveries.
Of 380 rail cars on order by the state of Connecticut, the first 38 are being built in Kobe, Japan, and the remaining 342 are being built at Kawasaki”™s plant in Lincoln, Neb.
The Lincoln plant was shut down in April due to a production error with welds on brackets holding components to the underside of the cars, with the brackets made by several manufacturers near the Kawasaki plant in Kobe.
Metro-North said the bracket problem is unrelated to the earthquake and will have no adverse impact on the Lincoln production line. Production has resumed at the Lincoln plant and the first cars are expected from there in July 2011; Metro-North expects some 60 cars to be in service by year-end.
Stamford roadway funding approved
The State Bond Commission approved $4.9 million in funding to support roadway improvements in Stamford”™s South End, which is expected to support some 225 construction jobs.
The project includes improvements to Canal Street from Ludlow to Jefferson streets, including four travel lanes for a portion and left-turn lanes for the remainder. The project will also reconstruct portions of Pacific Street, to include widening, parking and bike lanes.
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Cities again stalk TIGER funding
The U.S. Department of Transportation is freeing up a half-billion dollars for a third round of TIGER funding to support transportation infrastructure projects.
In the second round of TIGER grants awarded earlier this year, the city of Bridgeport received $11 million toward infrastructure work in support of the proposed Steelpointe Harbor development. To date, the DOT has awarded $2.1 billion to some 125 projects nationally, of some 2,500 applications for the money.
