XML FeedsCSX will open bids on bridge
By CostBenefit on May 3, 2006 | In Government Report, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Transportation, South, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Costs and Benefits
Link: http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114664786973810.xml&coll=3
Despite a spike in the expected price tag and uncertainty surrounding some of its Gulf Coast freight operations, CSX Transportation Inc. is proceeding with a federally funded endeavor to replace an antiquated railroad bridge spanning the Mobile River, a spokesman for the railroad company said Tuesday. Bids for the project will be opened Thursday afternoon in the railroad's hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., Gary Sease said, with the winner likely to be announced a few days later. He did not know how quickly construction would begin on the lift drawbridge that is supposed to replace the 79-year-old "swing bridge" located almost 14 river miles north of Mobile. The project is going forward as Congress debates spending $700 million to help CSX abandon its artery between Mobile and New Orleans in favor of a route further inland. Even if that plan materializes, Sease said, CSX would continue to use the line crossing the Mobile River. Replacement of the swing bridge -- so-called because it swings on a pivot -- has been a high priority for commercial shippers for decades. In 1999, the U.S. Coast Guard gave the go-ahead following a cost-benefit analysis. After that, supporters began working with the state's congressional delegation to salt away federal money each year, said Sheldon Morgan, president of the Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway Association, a Mobile-based trade group. Almost $38 million has since been accumulated, Morgan said. Because that sum represents at least 75 percent of the project's current estimated cost, CSX is now able to begin construction, Morgan said. The total amount of the project was not available Tuesday. ... Although the bridge is part of a CSX line, the federal government is footing most of the tab under a 1940 law that allows for such taxpayer-funded upgrades if they benefit commercial navigation. The company will pick up about 10 percent of the cost, said Chief Petty Officer Dan Tremper, a Coast Guard spokesman. In its 1999 analysis, the Coast Guard found that the 138-foot channel created by the bridge is so narrow that it is "extremely difficult" for towed barges heading toward Mobile to ease past the bridge and the bend that follows. A new, more passable bridge would produce $72.3 million worth of saved travel time over 12 years, the Coast Guard predicted. In an April 2000 accident that revived memories of the deadly Amtrak Sunset Limited disaster seven years earlier, the bridge was closed for traffic for almost two days after a four-barge tow crashed into a pillar and knocked the crossing out of alignment. But the 1999 study also pegged the replacement cost to the federal government at about $25 million, whereas that amount now will be at least 50 percent higher. Morgan was unsure of the reason for the jump, suggesting that the design process might be responsible. Sease referred cost questions to Jacob Patnaik, chief of the engineering division in the Coast Guard's bridge administration office. Patnaik was not available for comment Tuesday. ... By SEAN REILLY FOR FULL STORY GO TO: http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114664786973810.xml&coll=3 Mobile Press-Register www.al.com/news/mobileregister| « Advocates Advise Legislators to Get the Lead Out: HEAVY METAL POISONING | Big oil, big landowners, big lawyers, big government tussle over oil site cleanups » |
