The last two public grade crossings on the eastern Keystone were closed on Wednesday. The Philadelphia to Harrisburg corridor is now sealed with no public road crossings. So there is progress being made with the stimulus money!
There was a Trains Magazine news wire report last week that the closing was imminent, but it did not provide a date. I did some searching and found a Lancaster Online news report, did some more digging and found the PennDOT news release. In my google searches, I came across a 2003 news article on plans to close the 3 last grade crossings in the next several years, but after 2003, PennDOT didn't have the funds, so those plans stalled. Now only a mere 11 years later, with $18 million in stimulus funds, the grade crossing separations are done.
Two At-Grade Crossings to Close on Wednesday. (under New Bridge over the Railroad Opens in Rapho Township).
There was a Trains Magazine news wire report last week that the closing was imminent, but it did not provide a date. I did some searching and found a Lancaster Online news report, did some more digging and found the PennDOT news release. In my google searches, I came across a 2003 news article on plans to close the 3 last grade crossings in the next several years, but after 2003, PennDOT didn't have the funds, so those plans stalled. Now only a mere 11 years later, with $18 million in stimulus funds, the grade crossing separations are done.
Two At-Grade Crossings to Close on Wednesday. (under New Bridge over the Railroad Opens in Rapho Township).
Construction crews at around 3 p.m. today opened the new bridge that carries Maibach Lane over the Amtrak railroad tracks in Rapho Township, Lancaster County. The new crossing is just east of Mount Joy Borough. Maibach Lane connects Route 230 to the north with Eby Chiques Road to the south.
On Wednesday,Sept. 24,construction crews will close the nearby at-grade crossings just west of the new bridge at Eby Chiques Road in Rapho Township and Mount Joy Borough and a little further west at Newcomer Road, also between Mount Joy Borough and Rapho Township. The closings and removal of these crossings will eliminate the last at-grade public crossings on Amtrak’s 104-mile Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Their removal will also help prepare the way for eventually increasing train speeds on the corridor.
The contractor doing this work for PennDOT is the Trumbull Corporation, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for $7,861,279. Work started in the spring of 2013 and will wrap up next month. The overall project included construction of a new bridge over two tracks of Amtrak and one track of Norfolk Southern on a new state route alignment designated as State Route 4062 (known locally as Maibach Lane). SR 4062 intersects Route 230 just east of Eby Chiques Road (T-347) in Rapho Township. The alignment extends SR 4062 south from the intersection with Route 230 to existing Eby Chiques Road. The project also included a new catenary and railroad electric traction system that was built by Amtrak. Now that the new bridge has been opened to traffic and provides a safer crossing over the railroad tracks, construction crew will close existing at-grade rail-highway crossings on both Eby Chiques Road and Newcomer Road on Wednesday, Sept. 24. Cul-de-sacs are currently being constructed to enable motorists to turn around where the at-grade crossings will be closed.
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