Infra Insight Blog

The Northern Lights Express intercity rail proposal, connecting Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota with a stop in Superior, Wisconsin, advanced forward following a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).  The FRA’s decision found that the proposed rail project would not have any significant environmental impacts and allows the project to advance beyond the environmental phase.

Project proponents envision a rail service connecting six stations operating across existing BNSF Railway track.  The Northern Lights Express ...

Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx have awarded a fixed-price design-build-finance $245.5 million contract to upgrade Agincourt, Milliken, and Unionville GO stations on the Stouffville GO corridor. The winning bidder, EllisDon Transit Infrastructure (EDTI), will deliver the project using Infrastructure Ontario’s Alternative Financing and Procurement model. EllisDon constituents will provide financing and construction while WSP / MMM Group will be in charge of the design. The project includes upgrades to tracks, platforms with canopies, new pedestrian ...

The White House released its long-awaited infrastructure proposal to Congress this morning, along with the President’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal. While elements have been hinted at and leaked before, the 55-page document released today provides significant new details. Though the Administration began to advance discrete priorities by executive action this past year, this broad proposal will require legislation. The Administration has opted to leave to Congress the drafting of the bill, just as it did with tax reform.

The White House proposal includes:

• Creation of new ...

Much has been said already about President Trump's call to "rebuild our crumbling infrastructure," in his first State of the Union address. The President asked Congress to advance a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan that, in part, should be "leveraged by partnering with state and local governments and, where appropriate, tapping into private sector investment."

But not all "crumbling infrastructure" is state and local infrastructure. The federal government's infrastructure also needs attention (e.g., river locks, some dams and levees, federal buildings, etc.). In late ...

On January 22, the Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved construction of an on-dock rail facility that will allow the faster movement of cargo with lower environmental impacts, port officials said in a press release.

The new Pier B on-dock facility will allow more containers to be placed directly on trains at marine terminals. Currently, the ability to build long trains within the Port is limited due to the lack of adequate yard tracks and the configuration of mainline tracks.

Because no cargo trucks are involved in these moves, the new facility will have ...

A government shut down arises when Congress fails to pass an appropriations act that enables federal agencies to spend. There should be separate appropriations acts for groups of agencies.  However, in recent years, Congress has not enacted these separate appropriations acts, but collected them in one enormous bill that includes virtually every agency of the federal government.  Having created these monster bills, Congress then delays passage over battles about what programs or expenditures should or should not be included.  This creates the delays that lead to government ...

On December 21, 2017, the City and County of Denver and Denver Great Hall LLC  reached financial close on the $1.8 billion Jeppesen Terminal redevelopment project (Great Hall Project) at Denver International Airport.

Following on the heels of Denver City Council’s approval of the Development Agreement and commercial close in August 2017, this represents a critical milestone in Denver International Airport’s plans to upgrade its signature terminal for the post-9/11 era by, among other things, relocating and modernizing its security screening areas and improving the ...

President Trump recently signed into law a repeal of the MPO Coordination and Planning Area Reform rule less than a year after the rule was finalized by the Obama administration’s Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The rule, which was largely unpopular with local metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) across the country, aimed to consolidate many MPOs. As a demonstration of just how unpopular the rule was, the bipartisan repeal effort unanimously passed in the Senate and overwhelmingly passed in the House.

The MPO Consolidation Rule was ...

Bombardier and Metrolinx announced that they have amended their Eglinton Crosstown LRV contract and settled their pending arbitration, showing how re-negotiation and compromise can preserve project schedule and quality, cement customer relationships and eliminate financial uncertainty.

Under the agreement, Bombardier’s LRV production is dramatically cut from 182 to 76 vehicles. However, Bombardier also secured an 18 month extension on its Metrolinx-owned GO Transit operations and maintenance contract.  The amended contract "resets the relationship ... and brings ...

Humber College students and Toronto West residents will soon be able to access Canada’s largest subway system in five years.  The CA$1 billion Finch West LRT project is slated to open in 2022.  The new dedicated light rail transit line will run 11 kilometres along the surface of Finch Avenue from Humber College’s north campus to the new Finch West subway station on the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension that opened yesterday.  There will be 16 surface stops and 2 below-grade termini at Humber College and the subway station.  The Finch West LRT project includes a maintenance and ...