Oil Patch Bits: ARRC announces public meeting for North Pole project

The Alaska Railroad and Federal Railroad Administration announced March 19 the availability of an Environmental Assessment of the North Pole Road/Rail Crossing Reduction project.

The public is invited to attend an open house-style meeting to discuss EA findings and to consider the project’s economic, social and environmental impacts in relation to community goals and objectives: 4:30-6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5, 2012, Hotel North Pole, 449 N. Santa Claus Lane in North Pole. The presentation will take place at 5:30 p.m.

As proposed, the project will close nine at-grade crossings within the City of North Pole, construct a grade-separated crossing over Richardson Highway, reduce train traffic at three crossings along the spur track, realign the track along the Tanana River Flood Control Levee and acquire land for the new realigned right of way.

A project fact sheet and the EA are available online at www.AlaskaRailroad.com, Projects, Fairbanks/Interior Projects.

For more information or to request a hard copy of the EA, contact Jeanette Greenbaum at 907-265-2440, or email [email protected].

The public is welcome and encouraged to provide comments on the EA beginning now through the comment deadline April 25. Comments may be submitted by: Mail to Alaska Railroad Capital Projects, North Pole Project, PO Box 107500, Anchorage, AK 99510-7500, email to [email protected], or by fax at 907-265-2365.