Projects

Gaston & Mecklenburg Counties, NC

Florence & Hutcheson (F&H) completed planning and environmental studies for reactivating the Piedmont and Northern (P&N) Railroad in Gaston County and Cedar Yard in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.

The purpose of this N.C. Department of Transportation project is to reactivate the 11.5 mile railroad corridor for short line freight rail service. This P&N corridor is a strategic link allowing Gaston County industries to have rail access to the CSX and Norfolk Southern mainlines. Freight services will be available for businesses along the track from Mount Holly to Gastonia and a spur near Belmont. Passenger service is a future possibility in the Belmont and Cedar Yard areas. This project includes general railroad maintenance, track repairs, road crossing signals, selected crossing closures, bridge deck improvements, and drainage upgrades.

Railroad service on the P&N corridor ended in the 1960’s. After nearly 40 years as an inactive rail line, nearby residents expressed concerns about trains running again. NCDOT and F&H held a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss the benefits of the project and address citizens’ concerns. Noise studies showed that the most substantial noise increases would occur when locomotives sound their horns at selected road crossings.