Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said recently the state is applying for $603 million in federal transportation funding to help cover the capital costs of three “hardening” projects “central to commuter rail infrastructure.”
Norwalk would receive the largest share.
The infrastructure is owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) and operated by Metro-North.
The project requests, through the DOT, include $349 million in federal funding to help cover the cost of the Walk Bridge Replacement Project in Norwalk, representing 75 percent of the $465 million total project cost. The DOT would match the federal money with $116 million in state funds.
The remaining funds in the $603 million package would go to upgrades in the Metro-North New Haven Line communications system, a $346 million project for which the DOT would pay 25 percent, or $82 million.
A third plan is to strengthen the New Haven rail yard”™s power system for $12 million, of which the DOT would pay $3 million (25 percent).
“We learned some tough lessons during Superstorm Sandy, but one of the most important was that several aspects of our transportation infrastructure are in dire need of hardening measures,” Malloy said in a statement. “The New Haven Line is the busiest single commuter rail system in America, and the backbone of our economy and its failure due to a weather-related event would have a catastrophic ripple effect throughout the region and the nation.”
Congress and the Obama administration made $3 billion available for 11 states affected by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. Connecticut DOT Commissioner James P. Redeker said the Federal Transit Administration will announce grant awards under the Sandy Resiliency Project in the fall.
