Laserfiche WebLink
BACKGROUND: <br /> The Norfolk Southern rail yard, located in the east side of Decatur, is one of the world's largest <br /> flat switching yards, with hundreds of railcars a day passing through it. The bridge carrying the <br /> Norfolk Southern (NS) rail yard over Brush College Road was originally built in 1929 and <br /> remains in service today. <br /> As industry along Brush College Road has grown, so have the capacity needs of the rail yard and <br /> the roadway. The bridge structure was widened in 1951 to accommodate additional rail yard <br /> tracks. Then, in 1983-1984, during reconstruction of Brush College Road,the underpass was <br /> widened from two 10' wide lanes to two 11' wide lanes. The bridge foundation had to be <br /> modified to provide for this 2-foot expansion. A bi-directional left turn lane was also added to <br /> Brush College Road both north and south of the underpass. <br /> In the early 1990's, the roadway north of the underpass was improved to a four lane cross section. <br /> The underpass of Brush College Road at the NS rail yard was not able to be widened and is now a <br /> critical bottle neck in the movement of traffic between the north and south. <br /> In November, 2005, Blank, Wesselink and Cook&Associates, Inc. (BWC) completed a Planning <br /> Study for Brush College Road from William Street to Faries Parkway. The study recommended <br /> improvements to the William StreetBrush College Road intersection as a low-cost solution to <br /> some of the traffic concerns on Brush College Road. The study also suggested alternatives to <br /> move traffic away from the underpass configuration but the alternatives were not recommended, <br /> partly due to the high social and economic costs. <br /> The City requested and accepted proposals for a study of the Brush College Road/Norfolk <br /> Southern Railroad Crossing in December 2009. A selection panel consisting of representatives <br /> from the City, Macon County, the Decatur Urbanized Area Transportation Study (DUATS), <br /> ADM, Tate & Lyle, and Norfolk Southern was established to interview the engineering firms that <br /> submitted proposals. Four engineering consulting firms were interviewed in January 2010 and <br /> URS Corporation was selected to perform the study. Staff believes that URS understands the <br /> requirements of this project and is the best qualified to perform this preliminary design. <br /> SCOPE OF WORK: <br /> Staff has negotiated a scope of services and contract amount with URS. In general, the study will <br /> include: <br /> l. Collecting, processing and analyzing traffic data in the Brush College Road corridor. <br /> 2. Collecting other available data of the area and performing a topographic survey. <br /> 3. Interviewing key stakeholders in the project and holding public information meetings. <br /> 4. Preparing the following studies: <br /> a. Location Drainage Study <br /> b. Alternate Geometric Studies <br /> c. Structure Studies <br /> d. Environmental Studies <br /> 5. Preparing a Categorical Exclusion Project Development Report. <br /> Page � 2 <br />