Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and CSX Corp. officials held a public workshop on Nov. 17 to update Elkridge residents on the selection process of its proposed Intermodal Rail Transfer Facility.
The new facility is a key part of CSX’s National Gateway plan to create a more efficient rail route linking mid-Atlantic ports with midwestern markets, which would improve the flow of rail traffic between these regions by increasing the use of double-stack trains.
Currently, CSX is unable to double stack containers on trains leaving its existing facility at the Port of Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine Terminal due to height restrictions at Baltimore’s Howard Street Tunnel.
CSX is targeting a 2015 completion date for the entire National Gateway project, and by extension the Intermodal Rail Transfer Facility, to coincide with the expansion of the Panama Canal, which is expected to bring more traffic through East Coast ports.
Relocation of the intermodal facility not only will allow double-stacking, but will also free up land at Seagirt now occupied by CSX to accommodate that increased flow of shipping traffic.
Residential Concerns
Four sites now vie for contention as the final approved intermodal transfer facility site: one in Prince George’s County (BARC/Beltsville), one in Anne Arundel County (Jessup Correctional Facility) and two in Howard County (the Montevideo Road parcel in Jessup and the Race Road at Hanover Road parcel in Elkridge).
Speaking at the Howard County Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Breakfast in November, state Sen. Ed Kasemeyer (D-Dist. 12) said the Elkridge site appears to be the least costly option for CSX.
“We’re several months into the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process in which the government considers [a variety of] factors in recommending a site,” Kasemeyer said. “The reason we’re going through this is [that], evidently, the government has made an agreement with CSX to fund half the cost of this facility if we go through the federal process.”
The Howard County sites are also the only two sites to have been designated as Priority Funding Areas, for which state funding is available.
According to CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan, the NEPA environmental analysis study of each site should be completed by late 2012.
“Each site has different development cost factors that will affect the final cost of the project,” Sullivan said, to include floodplains, wetlands, utility infrastructure costs, grade crossings and other considerations.
Specific cost estimates show the Elkridge site as the least expensive option, at an estimated cost of $140 to $165 million. The next least expensive option is the Montevideo site at a projected cost of $220 to $225 million.
That has a lot of Elkridge residents worried.
“The crux of the issue is there’s close to 300 homes close to this facility in the Elkridge area and the other sites have fundamentally very little residential housing, but the numbers are dictating Elkridge,” Kasemeyer said. “That’s the problem.”
Study Requested
Also speaking during the HCCC Legislative Breakfast, Howard County Councilwoman Courtney Watson (D-Dist. 1) said the county has never before seen such a complex issue that involves federal, state and local governments, in addition to the Federal Railroad Administration and a host of other agencies.
“It’s a very good thing for Maryland in terms of economic development,” she said. “We want to be able to provide this site for CSX, but we have to help guide it where we think it’s going to be best for Howard County.”
For that reason, Watson said she asked the Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA) to consider a study that would help determine which of the two sites would be better from an economic development standpoint.
“Do we have more land around Montevideo Road for ancillary businesses that would spring up around this huge facility or do we have more land at Elkridge?” Watson asked. “What are the long term implications for Howard County over 30 years? That’s how I’d like us to look at it locally … and if it goes in Elkridge, what are we going to require CSX to do for the houses that back right up to it, because there is some mitigation that will be necessary.”
Part of the study, she said, should look at similar intermodal facilities in the United States to determine what happened there in terms of ancillary growth and in terms of the zoning that was needed to accomplish it.
“That will help us evaluate which site is better,” Watson said. “With the General Plan and Comprehensive Rezoning processes underway, it’s a good time to be considering this.”
Laura Neuman, CEO of the HCEDA, said her organization’s board has been briefed by MDOT and CSX and agrees that a study might be beneficial.
“We’re trying to learn more about those sites and may consider an internal review, but no decision has been made at this time,” she said. “At the moment we’re more engaged in fact finding.”
Pros and Cons
During the public workshop, the North Carolina-based planning, design and construction management firm Gannett Fleming provided an acoustic demonstration of the sounds and noise that the new intermodal facility is expected to generate.
According to Ahmed El-Assar, a project manager for Gannett Fleming’s affiliated firm Environmental Acoustics, the demonstration featured typical sound levels of equipment, such as electric cranes and containers settling onto the ground. He explained that the noises were recorded at a distance of 250 feet and played back at true decibel levels.
Local residents, however, complained that they were not hearing representations of the noises that cause them the most concern, such as truck back-up alarms, trains coupling and uncoupling or metal containers being stacked atop of other metal containers.
Terry Winebrenner, Gannett Fleming vice president, said those noises would be evaluated as part of his company’s analysis of all four sites.
Jeff Fraley, vice president of the Fraley Corp. of Baltimore, a general contracting company that specializes in industrial, commercial and residential contracting services, said he sees the new intermodal facility as a boon to the region no matter where it is located.
“It will help us maintain a strong and viable port and give us a competitive edge,” he said. “Something like this will definitely spur the creation or expansion of more businesses to support the activity at this facility. When you look at the big picture, providing jobs in this region is trump.”
