Ed, I don't think the cutoff was getting money from the high speed. I think the hold up on this is that PA doesn't want to add money to help with the cutoff to Scranton. Same as the ARC tunnel issue. Glad the governor cropped that pork barrel!

I didn't mean that the money for high speed rail is going into this project. That comment was in response to one above that chastised me for making a political statement when in fact I was just reporting on the latest news and the fact that many rail projects might be cut back or eliminated all together if this bill is passed.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Don't worry Ed, I got the political conversation that I was seeking over in the Atlas Shrugged thread. It is nice to see someone doing some forward thinking on commuter rail and I've always thought that the DL&W was a fascinating railroad even if it wasn't in my neighborhood. I'd love to hear more about this from a historical perspective, and perhaps even some history of the politics, but it appears that the partisan politics is just too tempting....

etalcos, from what I have read and heard, the viaducts, tunnels and the bridges, will just be restored not replaced. In fact I believe the road bridge that Route 94 uses to cross the cut off was duplicated from the original design. So NJT is trying to keep the historical design there. What a photo shoot that would be of a big steamer coming across the Delaware River!!!!!!!

Route 94 crosses under the Cutoff in one of the many tunnels built with the man-made fill put on top. The Route 94 (at the time of construction State Highway 8) tunnel is interesting because of the tunnel that is about 100 feet timetable west of it. This tunnel was built to protect the right of way owned by the Lehigh & New England RR. The L&NE operated between Hainesburg Jct. and Swartswood Jct. via trackage rights on the NYS&W. However they owned their own right of way between those two points and if traffic demanded could build its own line and thus the tunnel. For decades the tunnel was more or less forgotten and the entryways overgrown, but about 10 years ago the local town opened up to access baseball/soccer fields. If you are heading North on Route 94 you can make a left turn just before the tunnel and drive through this second tunnel, a route that was never graced by an L&NE train.

There was no replacement done here. The place you are referring to is County Route 521 (Hope-Blairstown Road) where a duplicate of the original bridge was built next to the original. The original was then repaired and each carries a lane of traffic.

As to the remaining comment, yes everything on this project is repair and restoration. While not as big as the more famous Nicholson Viaduct, the Paulins Kill Viaduct would cost an astronomical amount to replace. As it is the Delaware River Viaduct need substantial work done to the second tier arches which carry the roadbed. I have heard nubers in the $50 million range for its repair.

The Lackawanna Cutoff is the engineering marvel of its time (1909-1911). The Lackawanna was a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete and every station, tower, bridge, tunnel and viaduct was made of the stuff. There were no grade crossings (2 are being added to replace bridges that were either in need of replacement or cause a bad curve on the road.

Two of the three stations survive, at Greendell and Blairstown. Blairstown was the only stop to survive till the end of passenger service in 1970.

Thanks Tim for the info. Good to here some of the towns are thinking about this and took that into consideration when doing projects.

This is off the NJT website on the total cost:
Project Cost
$551 million (2006 Estimate). This estimate does not include property acquisition costs. The full project is not funded. The estimated cost of the first phase to Andover is approximately $37 million. The first phase is fully funded using a combination of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and state Transportation Trust Funds funds.

Mile for Mile, the Most Highly Developed Railroad in America.

Mike
(still got a crush on young Pheobe Snow)