North Side residents oppose plans to raise bridges for trains

Norfolk Southern plans to begin work by the end of the year on a $28.6 million project to adapt 14 bridges to give the railroad a second route through the city for double-stack freight cars.

But PennDOT, the city and especially North Side residents — where preliminary plans call for two bridges near Allegheny Commons park to be raised about three feet — may have different ideas.

The railroad displayed plans Tuesday evening in an open-house format at the Children’s Museum on the North Side, where residents could view plans for various parts of the project and ask individual questions.

That didn’t sit well with residents who wanted a more formal presentation. They showed their displeasure by wearing a series of stickers criticizing the lack of a formal environmental impact statement for the project, the wisdom of doubling the number of trains through a heavily populated neighborhood and potential damage to the park.

“This is just pro forma so they can say they had a meeting,” said Glenn Olcerst, a retired attorney who lives in Central North Side. “It’s disrespectful.”

Mr. Olcerst, who’s done years of research on the railroad’s path through the neighborhood, said three aspects of the plans to raise the bridges at Pennsylvania and West North avenues concerned him. Those are increasing the weight and vibration on brick sewer lines more than 100 years old under the tracks; creating a greater chance for puddling, which occurs when higher tracks create a larger area to accept rain runoff that can damage ground supporting the tracks; and higher cars navigating a sharp bend near the Clark Building on Martindale Street.

Mr. Olcerst and other residents would rather see the railroad lower the tracks, as it