City and CSX to repair 2 bridges 

Posted: 8:17 pm Wed, November 18, 2009
By Robbie Whelan
Daily Record Business Writer

Baltimore officials have reached an agreement with railroad giant CSX Transportation Inc. to share the costs of replacing two troubled city bridges and making improvements on at least five other pieces of city infrastructure.

The city’s Board of Estimates Wednesday gave final approval to a 2007 agreement to reconstruct the Sinclair Lane Bridge, which passes over a CSX track near an industrial park in East Baltimore, and the Fort Avenue Bridge, which serves as the main gateway into Fort McHenry in South Baltimore.

“It only took us 30 years to do this,” joked Jamie Kendrick, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transportation. “Rather than continue to argue about this for time immemorial, we got it done. It took us two years to haggle over the fine details, but we got it done.”

CSX will cover 75 percent of the $12 million cost of the project, and the city will cover the difference using federal transportation formula grants. Once completed, the city will assume responsibility for maintaining the bridges.

Bob Sullivan, a CSX spokesman, said that the process was carried out with “cooperation and respect,” and praised the city for working closely with his company.

“Basically, you essentially had the agreement two years ago, and there was a lot of detail work that needed to be done to make it really work and the finalize it,” he said. “In the end, a public-private partnership was worked out.”

The main point of contention between CSX and the city is the question of who owns the bridges.

Sullivan, of CSX, could not answer the question when posed to him.

“The usual situation is that the railroad takes care of the railroad bridges and the highway authority takes care of highway bridges,” he said. But the Baltimore infrastructure in question consists of bridges that go over CSX-owned railroads, rather than bridges that support railroad tracks.

Kendrick, of the city, said that the ownership is in dispute, because of outdated ordinances and subtleties in land records.

“There is a legitimate argument on both sides that each of us has certain responsibilities under ordinances that are 100 years old,” he said. “They’d say that because we’ve done certain repair work, we touched ’em so we bought ’em.”

The accord struck Wednesday, as a result, came with a major conciliatory note.

“Following two years of extensive negotiations, the final agreements prevent lengthy and costly litigation between the City and CSX, and ensure that safety concerns regarding the bridges are resolved in a timely manner,” read a statement about the agreement from the office of Mayor Sheila Dixon.

In addition to the Sinclair Lane and Fort Avenue bridges, the city and CSX will cooperate on improvements to the Hanover Street Bridge, the Sisson Street Bridge and five stone viaducts that provide arch support over CSX tracks the run under Harford Road, Guilford Avenue, Barclay Street and Greenmount Avenue. A bridge on Wicomico Street in Southwest Baltimore that has gone unused for a decade will be demolished under the program.

Kendrick said Wednesday that none of the bridges being repaired are a public safety risk, and that parking and maximum vehicle weights are restricted on both of them.

“We would have shut them down by now if they were a danger to the public,” he said. “They’ve just exceeded their usable life.”