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CITT expands preliminary engineering agreement authority to $5 million to speed rail-related work on railroad property
Summary
The trust approved an amendment to Resolution R-840-09 expanding preliminary engineering agreement scope to include private railroad-property engineering, and raised delegated authority to award agreements up to $5,000,000 per non-tax project and $5,000,000 cumulative for surtax-funded projects.
The Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust on Wednesday approved an amendment to an earlier resolution that broadens the allowable scope and funding authority for preliminary engineering agreements related to transit projects that affect railroad property.
The measure amends Resolution R-840-09 to explicitly include engineering work on railroad property and increases the county mayor's designee authority to award agreements "up to $5,000,000 per agreement for non-tax funded projects and up to $5,000,000 cumulatively for surtax-funded projects," attorney staff read into the record during the meeting.
Stacey Miller, director of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, explained the change is intended to accelerate work on time-sensitive corridors such as the Northeast Corridor. "With that $25,000 threshold, right now, a traditional basic review with a railroad is almost double that ... a basic review is $50,000. A complex review can be upwards of over a hundred thousand dollars," Miller said. She added that design reviews for work inside a railroad right-of-way can be far higher: "To design an actual railroad intersection ... that could be a million dollars. So what we're trying to do is increase our capacity to move these projects along faster."
Director Miller told the trust that previous annual cumulative expenditures for these types of agreements were roughly $4.8 million, so the new $5 million ceiling gives a cushion and flexibility to expedite engineering work. Several members asked for a six-month status update on surtax fund balances tied to the new authority; Miller agreed to provide follow-up reporting.
The trust approved the amendment by voice vote. The transcript records members asking for follow-up reporting and emphasizing the Northeast Corridor as a priority.
Why it matters: Engineering on railroad property typically involves multiple private and public tenants and specialized reviews, which raise cost and schedule risk. Increasing the threshold and clarifying scope is intended to remove administrative delays and allow faster execution of complex preliminary engineering tasks.
Next steps: Department staff will implement the expanded authority, oversee agreements with rail right-of-way owners and tenants, and provide periodic status updates, including surtax-funded spending reports.
