BNSF Railway Co. has selected T.J. Lambrecht Construction and Walsh Construction as the primary civil contractor to construct its new intermodal facility southwest of Kansas City in Edgerton, Kan. Also the Kansas Department of Transportation has announced that an agreement for a $35 million grant to BNSF from the state’s Rail Assistance Program has been finalized.
BNSF’s new 443-acre intermodal facility will feature wide-span electric cranes that produce zero emissions on-site and automatic gate systems to speed up the movement of traffic entering and departing the facility, helping to improve efficiency and reduce emissions. The facility will also incorporate an approximate 60-acre conservation corridor for water quality benefits to the area.
“The Kansas City market has developed into one of the most important freight transportation hubs in the Midwest and the nation,” says Matthew Rose, chairman, president and CEO of BNSF. The new intermodal facility, he says, will help expand the market’s capacity to shift freight traffic from the highways to rail.
BNSF intends to begin construction planning before the end of 2010 and site preparation and facility construction are expected to commence in 2011.
The contractor has a commitment with BNSF to hire at least 85% of its workforce locally in the Kansas City area, to hire employees and subcontractors at the prevailing wage, and to use Minority and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises for a significant amount of the work. The project will generate an estimated 660 construction jobs.
The $35 million grant from the Rail Assistance Program will be repaid from the state utilities sales tax generated on the intermodal facility and the separate logistics park development.
