Demolition on one of the largest transportation infrastructure investments on the East Coast, the Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program, has begun, officials with Amtrak said Tuesday.
The $6 billion program in Baltimore will modernize and transform a 10-mile section of the Northeast Corridor, the busiest passenger railroad in the country. Officials said the project will ease congestion along the biggest bottleneck between Washington, D.C. and New Jersey, improving reliability and travel times while upgrading the West Baltimore area infrastructure and replacing the Edmondson and Lafayette Street Bridges.
Construction on the project is expected to begin later this year, officials said.
“Two local small businesses have mobilized crews and equipment and begun demolition for the first of 47 residential and commercial properties that have been acquired by Amtrak,” officials with Amtrak said in a press release. “The contractors are experienced in performing demolition work and familiar with all applicable rules and regulations in Baltimore City. They will also install fencing lined with screening fabric around each site. Each contractor has a detailed work plan, including how adjacent properties will be protected during this process.”
When completed the project will have a new tunnel named after Frederick Douglass, a Maryland native, as well as a new ADA-accessible West Baltimore MARC station, five new roadway and railway bridges, and new rail infrastructure. The project is a joint effort between the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA) and other federal, state and local governments, and Amtrak.