City of Portsmouth NH Receives $460,000 Federal Grant for Bartlett Street Underpass Engineering Study

In a phone call to Mayor Deaglan McEachern on September 25, 2023, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg extended his congratulations to the City of Portsmouth on being selected for the Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program. The City applied for a $460,000 grant to cover the cost of the engineering studies necessary to reconfigure the Bartlett Street underpass and railroad bridge.

The project also includes Preliminary Engineering Studies with cost estimates for surface and safety improvements at three public grade crossings (Barberry Lane, Maplewood Avenue and Green Street) on the CSX Portsmouth Branch as well as the public crossing at Market Street on the CSX Newington Industrial Track. The Maplewood Avenue and Market Street crossings are already included in the New Hampshire 2023-2032 10-Year Transportation Improvement Plan.

“The Department of Transportation just announced $1.4 billion in railroad improvements covering just 70 projects – and Portsmouth is one of them. This rail project supports the economic vitality of Portsmouth and of the State of New Hampshire by ensuring that efficient and reliable rail transportation can move products in and out of the Port of Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and other rail-served businesses in the City,” said Mayor McEachern in making the announcement. “Railroads have been so central to our economy for the past two hundred years that there is a train depicted on the City seal. Thank you to the Department of Public Works and our Legal Department working with our grant consultant to make a convincing argument in the grant application to the Federal Transportation Department. Thanks to this grant the City will be able to improve both the rail line and the safety of Bartlett Street for the neighborhood.”

This project will perform Preliminary Engineering, and the development of specifications and cost estimates for the replacement of the 135-year-old girder bridge over Bartlett Street. Part of the CSX Portsmouth Branch network in Portsmouth, the existing bridge has exceeded its service life and is no longer capable of carrying industry standard freight cars of 286,000 (286k) pound gross weight. In addition, the bridge is built over a sharp curve in Bartlett Street and has sub- standard highway vertical and horizontal clearances which constitute a safety hazard. The engineering studies will determine the scope of a project to construct a new 286k-capable undergrade bridge over a relocated and straightened Bartlett Street.

The project is intended to improve highway safety by providing industry standard vertical and horizontal clearances and clear sightlines. The new configuration will also improve railroad safety by eliminating bridge strikes by over-height highway vehicles. The grant covers some of the initial costs of the four project components:

• Relocate and replace the Bartlett Street bridge to achieve 286k capability and improve the highway vertical clearances to a minimum of 14 feet;
• Relocate Bartlett Street and its utilities to a new alignment under the new Bartlett Street bridge;
• Rehabilitate four public grade crossings with surface improvements and installation of new or upgraded active warning devices; and
• Rehabilitate the 1.33 miles of Portsmouth Branch and Newington Industrial track from just west of the Barberry Road grade crossing to just east of the Market Street Grade Crossings.

The City will now work with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Railroad Development, in the words of the notification, “To deliver your project that will help us modernize our nation’s freight and passenger rail infrastructure.”

The CSX Portsmouth Branch rail line serves Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the New Hampshire State Port Authority’s Market Street Marine Terminal as well as commercial customers. The Portsmouth Branch and the Newington Industrial Track are designated as “Defense Connector Lines” as part of the Strategic Rail Corridor Network (STRACNET) civil rail lines which are most important to national defense because they provide rail service to military installations.