Georgia awarded over $60 million in railroad grant funding
Georgia will receive $65 million for three rail improvement projects as part of $2.4 billion national grant funding in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced on Tuesday.
The grants will help to pay for 122 projects nationwide in 41 states and Washington D.C. According to the department, the project is meant to make the railways more sufficient and reliable, as well as lessen the amount of shipping costs and pollution.
“Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re funding rail infrastructure projects that create jobs and expand workforce development, reduce costs for consumers, and directly benefit communities across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a recent press release.
“Each project advances a future where our supply chains are stronger, passenger rail more accessible, and freight movement safer and more efficient,” he added.
More than $26.5 million of the funds will be invested in the Georgia Port Authority’s Colonel’s Island Rail Improvements Project, helping to construct a new South Side Rail Yard at the island’s terminal in Brunswick.
Within its development, four new yard tracks will be constructed, totaling approximately 23,735 feet, along with an auto storage area and a perimeter road. In addition, the funding is expected to assist in reconfiguring and lengthening tracks at the nearby Myd Harris Yard to “improve operational efficiency and bring rail switching activities inside the terminal.”
Roughly $30 million of funding will go toward the Comprehensive Overhaul for Higher Operational Reliability in Transportation and Safety. The project will improve the safety and track conditions on eight Patriot Railroads located throughout the southeastern region.
The final initiative, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s CaterParrott Railnet (CPR) Short Line Upgrade Project, includes the rehabilitation and upgrading of tracks and bridges and the construction of a new rail spur on the railroad’s Lowndes and Berrien county locations.