News Digest: DOT Awards More Than $7 Million To Improve Freight Transportation Options to Southern Oregon and Northern California
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today awarded more than $7 million to the State of Oregon through a TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant to support a $9.4 million project that will rehabilitate a 296-mile stretch of short line railroad track operated by the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad. The project will help improve tunnels, rails, ties and bridges. As the track runs parallel to I-5 between Northern California and Oregon, reopening the line provides an environmentally friendly, economically competitive alternative for shipping goods in the region.