Two federal grants that would help the North Carolina Department of Transportation build the first leg of a Raleigh to Richmond high-speed rail line called the S-line and rebuild the track, signals, bridges and underpasses between Wake Forest and Raleigh ($1.1billion) and a more recent grant of $13.2 million to build a new railroad station in town are now on hold, suspended by the Trump Administration.
Monday night during the State of the Town Dinner at the Renaissance Centre Mayor Vivian Jones said she knew both projects had been put on hold by President Donald Trump and multi-billionaire Elon Musk.
Tuesday she emailed: “I have no new information other than to say that Sen. Tillis’ rep, Sen. Budd’s rep, and Congresswoman Ross’ rep were all at the State of the Town last night and all told me they are working on the funding issues and feel confident that these projects will go forward.”
A number of other North Carolina projects are on similar hold, according to an article in the Sunday, Feb. 16 edition of The News & Observer, but North Carolina Governor Josh Stein singled out the Wake Forest-S-line projects when he spoke with Trump’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy last week as Duffy was viewing the devastation in western North Carolina. Duffy was not familiar with the Wake Forest projects but said the suspension of the grants was routine, according to the article.
N. C. Department of Transportation Joey Hopkins was also in the conversation. He later said they asked Duffy about the S-line because “That’s one of the one’s that’s a primary for us. And we’re going to make a specific ask to get that one rolling. At least to find out if we can share any information to help get it rolling.”
“NC DOT and Amtrak are providing a 20 percent match to the federal grant for the S-line, bringing the total budget for the Wake County segment to $1.3 billion,” the N&O article said. “Part of DOT’s contribution is two bridges that will eliminate the at-grade crossings at Durant and New Hope Church roads, at a cost of $40 million. Work on both bridges is underway.”
Other North Carolina grants that are on hold include $242 million to replace the Cape Fear Memoria Bridge in Wilmington, $110 million to replace the U.S. 64 bridge over the Alligator River, and $1.8 million to develop a plan to protect N.C. 12 from ocean flooding in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
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2 Responses
Are the bridges for Rogers Rd & Ligon Mill Rd also required for S-Line? Does a bridge at Durant help if there are no bridges at other track crossings?
I think the money would be better spent helping western NC recover and widening US1. We do desparately need a 4 lane bridge across the tracks on Rogers Rd.