September-October 2022 - 8

PEOPLE & PLACES
THE LASTEST INDUSTRY NEWS
were discovered in mid-July and affect
18 of 45 piers. TransEd will complete a
root cause analysis and then design and
implement a solution.
MassTransitmag.com/21277060
FTA
FTA AND MATA celebrated the agency receiving a combined $76.3 million in
grants at an event Aug. 24, 2022.
FTA awards more than $1.6 billion
in funding for clean transit
A total of $1.66 billion was awarded by the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) to 48 states and territories, supporting 150 bus fleets and facilities
throughout the United States to invest in cleaner transportation, reduce
pollution and meet the Biden-Harris Administration's goal of net zero
emissions by 2050. The funding was provided through the FTA's Buses and
Bus Facilities and Low- and No-Emission (Low-No) Vehicle grant programs
and will support the purchase of more than 1,800 bus vehicles in urban,
suburban, rural and tribal communities. Of those vehicles, more than 1,100
qualify as zero emission, nearly doubling the number of zero-emission
buses currently on the road. Additionally, for the first time, five percent
of this year's Low-No funding will be used to train transit workers on how
to maintain and operate new clean bus technology.
MassTransitmag.com/21277567
Edmonton Valley Line Southeast
LRT delayed again due to
cracks in concrete piers
▶ The 13-kilometer (approximately
eight-mile) Valley Line Southeast lightrail
transit (LRT) project that runs from
downtown Edmonton to Mill Woods has
hit another delay. Ronald Joncas, CEO
of TransEd Partners, the consortium
building the line, told a press conference
Aug. 10 that he had hoped to celebrate
the opening of the line in September,
but instead announced a delay with no
definitive timeline for a solution in place.
The cause of the delay is the discovery
of cracks in about 40 percent of the
project's concrete piers that support
the elevated guideways. The cracks
8 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
Portal North Bridge project
starts construction
▶ Federal, state and transportation officials
joined together to mark the start of
construction of the Portal North Bridge.
The start of construction on the project
is the culmination of years of collaboration
between project partners New
Jersey Transit (NJ Transit), the Gateway
Program Development Corporation, the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
Amtrak and the federal government
and advocacy efforts of the New Jersey
Congressional delegation with support
from elected officials in surrounding
states. The project calls for constructing
a new two-track fixed structure bridge
over the Hackensack River using three
400-foot spans. In total, the project will
see the construction of 2.44 miles of
track infrastructure including 6,200 linear
feet of new embankment sections and
6,700 linear feet of bridge and viaduct
structure sections. In addition to removing
the Northeast Corridor bottleneck,
the new Portal North Bridge will allow
NJ Transit to increase capacity more
than 14 percent with the addition of new
multilevel railcars and more service. The
new bridge will also span the river 50 feet
higher than it currently does, which will
allow Hackensack River marine traffic to
pass without interrupting rail traffic.
MassTransitmag.com/21276093
Office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy
OFFICIALS MARKED the start of
construction on the Portal North River
Bridge on Aug. 1, 2022.
http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21277060 http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21276093 http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21277567 http://www.MassTransitmag.com
September-October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September-October 2022
