The plans to turn the freight-only CSX rail line through Wake Forest into part of a (relatively) high-speed passenger rail system serving the southeast are still alive but not yet at the stage where state officials can start requesting federal funding.
This week the editor checked with Marc L. Hamel, Rail Project Development Manager in the state Department of Transportation’s Rail Division, and he responded, saying in an email, “The SEHSR (Southeast High Speed Rail) project is very close to completion of the environmental planning and preliminary engineering. Beyond that, the project is unfunded. That said, having the planning process done moves the SEHSR much closer to ‘shovel ready’ and therefore is more attractive for Federal funding.”
After that, while searching for the dates of the public hearing in Raleigh on the proposed alignment of the tracks, the editor found information that two of the three documents required before funding could be requested had been completed and submitted but also, “The next steps consist of a Record of Decision (ROD), anticipated later in 2015, and a series of public hearings to be held in North Carolina and Virginia in the spring of 2016.” Huh? Obviously this part of the SEHSR website, https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/sehsr/, had not been updated in some time, so back to Hamel.
“The signature of the ROD has been delayed by extensive historic resources agreements and coordination. The hearings have not yet been held. We’ll schedule those as soon as we get a signature on the ROD. Until we get that signature, we don’t have a firm schedule for the hearings. I hope this helps!,” he wrote back almost immediately.
So, high speed rail (top speed about 85 mph) continues to lurk on the horizon but is not an immediate concern. But that was not the situation in the summer of 2010 when a round of public hearings were held and SEHSR officials said they hoped to have a decision by the middle of 2012 with funding approved and construction beginning between 2013 and 2017.
This is what the Gazette reported about the impact of the plan on Wake Forest in 2010:
“Monday night’s meeting with its large maps revealed there will be several impacts in Wake Forest depending on the exact location – there are as many as three possible in some places – of the right-of-way and tracks. Through the center of Wake Forest and its downtown there is a common alignment.
“The new rail line will be built as a sealed corridor between stations with no at-grade crossings. In Wake Forest, that means the following existing crossings will be closed: Brick Street, Elm Avenue, Friendship Chapel Road and two private crossings, one on a street south of Sycamore Avenue and one on Seawell Road off Ligon Mill Road.
“Mayor Vivian Jones and other town officials are lobbying to find a way to preserve Elm Avenue as an entrance to downtown for vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles.
“Some home lots in the Mill Village could be affected as well as other homes farther south.
“There will be new bridges on Rogers Road and Ligon Mill Road and a tunnel for a realignment of Holding Avenue. Heritage developer Andy Ammons reserved land for the future bridge on Rogers Road, but one right-of-way alignment for the railroad gobbled up the new Thales Academy and swept through two of the Factory baseball fields.
“The schematic for Holding Avenue shows West Holding extended across South Main Street, through a tunnel under the railroad and then curving north and east to meet the existing East Holding Avenue near the post office. The change would affect at least four or five homes and some businesses.
“The possible plan for Ligon Mill Road moves its alignment south in a deeper curve that would take part of the present lawn at the historic Hartsfield house. The bridge would be build south of the existing crossing.
“A third bridge is not included in the present plans because it would be part of the planned Northern Loop. The town has reached an understanding that it will build the bridge but only pay for the project as if it were an at-grade crossing with the state Department of Transportation paying the difference.
“Presently, the plans are perhaps kinder to Wake Forest than to its northern neighbors, in particular Franklinton where major east-west roads could be closed. One speaker at Monday’s meeting, a regular train rider from Cary, spoke about his opposition to the plan that would wreak “devastation” on some small towns that would be cut in half.”
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Also if my memory is correct is the right of way is now 25 ft. from center of rails and with high speed at existing structure move to 65 ft. 65 feet from center of track on S. White St. ( “Main street” of downtown) destroys the odd blocks of S. White Street including The Cotton Company, Shorty’s, White St. Brewery as they must come down to comply. This high speed rail funding has been voted down previously but yet it still survives and has considerable marketing money to preserve the concept. It’s time to “let it lay”. The public said no, so stop even considering as the damage as proposed to our downtown is not worth it on a rail that no one rides and is already heavily subsided.