Northwest Ohio will receive nearly $50 million in federal rail infrastructure funding, headlined by a $43.5 million award to rehabilitate and modernize the Toledo Swing Bridge over the Maumee River. The combined investment is one of the largest single federal rail awards announced for the region this year.
The money comes through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program, known as CRISI. The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway will receive the $43.5 million award for improvements to the swing bridge, a working freight crossing over the Maumee River near the Port of Toledo that must open for river traffic as well as carry trains.
A second CRISI award of $5.6 million will go to the Ohio Rail Development Commission to update track infrastructure along a section of the Indiana Northeastern Railroad in Williams County, in Ohio’s far northwest corner. Together, the two awards cover both a major river crossing in the region’s largest city and rural track miles at the state’s edge.
Federal lawmakers said the Toledo project addresses a structural bottleneck on an active freight corridor. Modernizing the bridge and increasing its load-carrying capacity will allow modern railcars to move more efficiently through the region, strengthening freight transportation and supporting Ohio’s domestic energy supply chain, which depends on reliable rail links between producers, processors and ports.
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur said railways are a crucial mode of transportation connecting the region — which she called the industrial heartland of America — to markets around the world, and that access to strong and safe rail infrastructure is vital for trade across the Great Lakes region. She noted the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company is an important part of the regional economy, moving tens of thousands of freight cars each year.
Sen. Jon Husted, who advocated for the project in a letter to Federal Railroad Administration Administrator David Fink, announced $43.55 million for the bridge work and said the investment will make the Toledo Swing Bridge safer and more reliable, allowing goods to move more efficiently and strengthening Toledo’s position as a major transportation hub. He said Ohioans can count on him to keep fighting to bring infrastructure investments home to support jobs, grow the economy and keep communities safe.
Kaptur, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority and representatives from the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway were set to hold a press conference in Toledo on Monday to announce further details of the award, including the scope and timing of the bridge work. The CRISI program supports projects that improve railroad safety, efficiency and reliability, reduce congestion along passenger and freight rail corridors and strengthen connections between transportation systems.
Photo: jpmueller99, CC BY