NCDOT Awards $12MM for Small-Road Infrastructure Improvements

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor, Railway Age
Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway is one of 12 North Carolina short lines to receive grant funding under the state’s Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Program. (Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway Photograph)
Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway is one of 12 North Carolina short lines to receive grant funding under the state’s Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Program. (Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway Photograph)

Twelve short lines will share approximately $12 million in infrastructure-improvement grant funding from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

NCDOT said the Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Program, established in 2013, “supports rail infrastructure health, safety and performance throughout the state, enabling NCDOT to partner with rail companies on improvement projects to effectively move freight.”

The awarded grants are matched with railroad investments and will contribute some $24 million to projects that support improvements to 52 railroad bridges and nearly 123 miles of track in North Carolina, NCDOT reported on Dec. 7.

The grant recipients are:

  1. Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway: $3,563,324 for bridge improvements, siding construction and track upgrades on the main line corridor (Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Moore, and Stanly counties).
  2. Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad: $536,908 for track upgrades on the main line corridor (Moore County).
  3. Alexander Railroad Co.: $403,995 for track upgrades on the main line corridor (Iredell County), and $96,000 for track upgrades on the main line corridor (Alexander County).
  4. Atlantic and Western Railway: $647,985 for bridge improvements and track upgrades (Lee County).
  5. Blue Ridge Southern Railroad: $1,847,754 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Canton and Skyland branches (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Jackson counties).
  6. Carolina Coastal Railway: $1,154,500 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Belhaven, Plymouth and Wilson branches (Beaufort, Nash, Pitt and Wilson counties).
  7. Charlotte Western Railroad: $511,032 for construction of two rail sidings on the main line corridor (Gaston County).
  8. Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad: $403,863 for bridge improvements and track upgrades along the main line and Pasquotank and Vulcan Lead branches (Perquimans County).
  9. Great Smoky Mountains Railroad: $1,011,978 for bridge improvements and track upgrades along the main line corridor (Cherokee, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties).
  10. North Carolina and Virginia Railroad: $415,572 for bridge improvements and track upgrades along the main line and Northampton, Bertie and Hertford branches (Hertford and Northampton counties).
  11. Raleigh and Fayetteville Railroad: $805,000 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Fayetteville Subdivision (Cumberland, Harnett and Wake counties).
  12. Wilmington Terminal Railroad: $574,914 for track upgrades along the main line and in the Wilmington yard (New Hanover County).
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media