Neffinger questions pace of two CSX projects

Date: 4/11/2012

April 11, 2012

By Debbie Gardner

debbieg@thereminder.com

WEST SPRINGFIELD — "Right now, this is a lose-lose proposition for West Springfield. We're being inconvenienced by [the proposed project on] Route 20 and we'll have double the truck traffic [on Park Avenue]," Mayor Gregory Neffinger said regarding the town's ongoing negotiations with CSX Railroad and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (DOT) Highway Division regarding a pair of rail-related projects.

Neffinger and Town Counsel Simon Brighenti presented an update on the recently announced DOT railroad bridge project slated for Route 20 and the stalled CSX project to raise the railroad overpass on Union Street during a press conference on April 3.

Both Neffinger and Brigheti expressed frustration at the uneven progress of the two projects — the Union Street bridge, which despite a $1 million grant secured by Congressman John Olver for architectural services, has been in the design phase for nearly five years, and the Route 20 project, which was presented to the public for the first time on a Thursday and begun the following Monday.

"Was that a public hearing, a public meeting or an informational meeting?" Brighenti said of the three-hour March 29 meeting that drew nearly 200 residents concerned about the DOT's plans to raze and reconstruct the portion of Route 20 that passes over the CSX railroad bridge, raising the roadbed and bridge height by five feet.

The bridge alteration is necessary to accommodate double-stacked shipping containers, which are now allowed from Worcester to the New York border under a recent transportation agreement between the railroad company and Gov. Deval Patrick.

"We feel if CSX is able to do something that fast on Route 20, why can't they do something on Union Street?" Neffinger asked.

The Union Street project, which has gone through multiple designs — each time increasing in cost from an original estimate of approximately $12 million to nearly $30 million — would allow truck traffic from CSX's Intermodal Station, which at 250 acres is the largest rail yard in Southern New England, to exit toward Memorial Avenue on their way to Route 91.

Currently, trucks must travel down Union Street to Park Avenue and the North End Bridge because the railroad overpass on Union Street does not have sufficient clearance to accommodate them.

The project to raise the Route 20 bridge to accommodate double-stacked containers is expected to nearly double the number of tractor-trailers leaving the CSX yard, worsening the truck traffic problem for West Springfield.

Neffinger said he has met with CSX, the state's Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey and various state, local and town officials regarding the two CSX projects more than 10 times since taking office on Jan. 3, indicating the town is "not very happy to be put on the back burner" for the Union Street project while the Route 20 project is seemingly moving ahead before all his department heads and residents' concerns have been addressed.

Those concerns, he noted, include questions about how much communication there has been between abutters to the Route 20 project regarding the impact on their property, home values, ability to enter and exit Route 20 safely from their streets, and the potential environmental impact of proposed work to be performed near a stream in the project site. The DOT has not discussed permitting with the town's Conservation Commission.

"Our biggest concerns are that the rights of the town of West Springfield are protected, and that the concerns of the residents will be heard," Neffinger said.

The Town Council echoed a similar concern at its April 2 meeting, issuing a strongly worded resolution, signed by all council members, to be forwarded to the DOT requiring that the DOT "delay the affected portions of the proposed [Route 20] project until such time as the affected property owners have had the project effects, upon each of their properties, fully explained and that Mass DOT make application for the various permits from the appropriate boards and commissions prior to commencement of earth moving activities or any other related activities that may be considered to be in preparation for the closure or partial closure of any town ways."

Neffinger noted that, should the DOT not provide sufficient documentation to prove it has the right to proceed with the project without obtaining local permits — as it has indicated it has — there are "a number of legal options we have to stop the project, and we'd rather have a symbiotic relationship with CSX."

Brighenti said, "What we're doing right now is asking [the DOT] to prove why they believe they are exempt [from local permitting.]"

Neffinger noted that "CSX is here for the long run [and] will need things from the town," adding that West Springfield had been a good neighbor to the rail yard when it wanted to expand its intermodal station by expediting the necessary permits.

He is asking CSX to be as good a neighbor to West Springfield as it has been to Worcester, where it assisted with neighborhood development when it expanded its rail yard.