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Raise or remove railroad bridge over Onondaga Lake ParkwayPost-Standard letter July 12, 2023To the Editor: Decades of attempted workarounds to prevent trucks from hitting the parkway bridge have proven ineffective. There is no-longer any point in blaming drivers or thinking that different signage will resolve the problem. It's just one of those things. What is the single greatest factor causing trucks to hit the bridge? It's an out-of-regulation low bridge. The solution is to raise or remove it. Will it be expensive? I presume so. But it will likely be in line with the cost of time, dollars, and traffic disruption incurred by government and residents in previous attempts to solve the problem. Public officials have discouraged talk of raising the bridge citing: 1) high cost---having to regrade a mile of track on either side of the bridge; and 2) it's private property and they can't compel the owners to do it. Neither argument appears to be correct. First, the current track begins rising to bridge level 3,900 ft (3/4 mi) from the bridge, and has a grade of 0.31%. This is very low. Grades of 1.5% or even 2.0% are generally acceptable, especially for short distances as we have here (compared to, say, traversal of mountain ranges). The grade is measured as rise over run. So, for a grade increase of 1%, a bridge raised 4 ft requires regrading 400 ft of track on either side of the bridge, not 1 mile (5,280 ft) as often claimed. This will create a total grade of just 1.31%. As to legal authority, the Interstate Commerce Act, established in 1887, and then the Interstate Commission Termination Act (“ICCTA”) of 1995 grants the Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) authority over rail service. That authority includes the ability to regulate rates, classifications, rules, practices, routes, services, and facilities as well as the construction, acquisition, operation, abandonment or discontinuance of spur, industrial, team, switching, or side tracks. The definition of “transportation” included within the STB’s purview is equally expansive, including a locomotive, car, vehicle, vessel, warehouse, yard, property, facility, instrumentality, or equipment of any kind related to the movement of passengers and/or property by rail. So, the federal government clearly has authority to force a bridge move. In fact they are failing to comply with their own regulations by not doing so. Local/State government need only obtain support from the STB to force raising the bridge. An alternative---ideal for the community---is to force abandonment of that spur if viable. Bridge removal would cost much less, and the shoreline would become accessible again, paving the way for a true "parkway" with attractive bike and walking path. Who pays to move the bridge? That's a legal issue. Either way the bridge should be raised up or taken down.
Carlo Moneti To comment, contact moneti ATT arsteca DOT net |