November 8, 2022
R. J. Corman Railroad Services Construction and Signaling Teams Improving Commuters Lives in Vermont
Over the last couple of months, Construction Divisions of R. J. Corman Railroad Services have been working on Phase 1 of the Village of Essex Junction’s Crescent Connector Road project.
Essex Junction, a town in Vermont located 60 miles from the border with Canada, started planning this project ten years ago. The town’s officials realized there was an opportunity to create a connecting road that would help decongest the slow vehicular traffic and boost the surrounding area’s business. The old road layout resulted in excessive vehicle delays, traffic volumes exceeding capacity, and a high vehicle crash rate on one of the streets. After the town secured funding for the project, our construction company was contracted to help with the rehabilitation of track and railroad crossings, critical elements of this crucial new connector.
“The reduction in travel time will not only make our commutes easier but will also reduce the amount of pollution our vehicles emit into the atmosphere,” said Village of Essex Junction’s Trustees President Andrew Brown in an interview with the Essex Reporter. “The Crescent Connector will also open up underdeveloped land for economic development activities, create additional public parking, and bury utilities.”
R. J. Corman began mobilizing equipment and materials to the site in the first week of June to focus on upgrading the existing railroad tracks and crossings, making them smoother and safer.
The work on the railroad tracks started on Wednesday, June 15, by replacing defective railroad ties, adjusting the rail elevation, adding ballast, installing new conduits underneath the crossing for crossing controls and communication, and removing and replacing existing bituminous concrete pavement.
Before and after work in Essex Junction, VT. (Park St. Railroad Crossing - South view on the left, North view on the right.)
The railroad crossings R. J. Corman rehabbed are a section of the New England Central Railroad (NECR), part of the Genesee & Wyoming network. Its traffic primarily consists of lumber, metals, chemicals, and stone products. The tracks are also used by Amtrak’s Vermonter train, which runs from St. Albans, near the Canada–U.S. border, south to Washington, D.C.
Phase 1 of this substantial rehabilitation project was successfully on schedule for the first week of August.
Phase 2 of the project is a complete signal upgrade of all the crossings, including new bungalows, gates, and cabling. R. J. Corman Signaling's Wire Shop employees provided all the mechanisms and materials for this second phase. With the help of a local subcontractor, R. J. Corman Railroad Services is installing the signal upgrade.
The second phase of the Village of Essex Junction’s Crescent Connector Road project is expected to be finalized on time by mid-November.
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R. J. Corman team members while building the railroad crossing (Photo credit: Richard F. Hamlin, P.E., Chief of Engineering, Donald L. Hamlin Consulting Engineers, Inc.)
