A plan to close part of Westwood Avenue to support expansion of a rail intermodal terminal in South Toledo will be the subject of a neighborhood meeting this evening.
The city of Toledo, at Norfolk Southern Railway's behest, is proposing to close Westwood's crossing of the railroad tracks between Hill and South avenues.
A meeting to discuss that proposal and otherwise update the public on the Airline Junction Intermodal Terminal project is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the University of Toledo's Scott Park Student Center. The student center is on Parkside Boulevard just south of Nebraska Avenue.
A railroad spokesman did not return a call seeking comment, but Richard Martinko, director of UT's Intermodal Transportation Institute, said closing the Westwood crossing is essential to the terminal project, because the longer trains the project is designed to accommodate would block the street on a regular basis if Westwood remained open.
"This is the only way we can do this project," Mr. Martinko said.
"I don't know how this can happen without eliminating vehicle traffic at the crossing," agreed city councilman D. Michael Collins, whose district includes the neighborhoods immediately south of the tracks that would be most affected by the street closing.Based on traffic counts taken five years ago, about 3,850 vehicles use the Westwood crossing on a typical day. If the crossing were removed, traffic would have to use a nearby underpass at Fearing Boulevard to the east, or the Byrne Road bridge to the west, to cross the railroad.
According to an analysis released in March, lengthening and reconfiguring tracks to expand freight-handling capacity at what is now known as Norfolk Southern's Toledo Intermodal Terminal would create nearly 900 jobs and a $25.6 million annual payroll. Most of that growth would occur at warehouses and other transportation-related businesses expected to settle nearby to make use of the terminal.
Later in March, the city was awarded a $6.5 million federal "stimulus" grant toward the project's estimated $13 million cost. Norfolk Southern has committed $4 million, although much of that represents track improvements the railroad has already made near the terminal site that, while potentially beneficial to the project as well, have streamlined its existing rail operations in South Toledo.
Mr. Collins said he plans to attend the meeting tonight "to hear how the neighbors react" to the idea of closing Westwood, but added that he also considers development of transportation and logistics centers, like the railroad terminal expansion, to be "a critical component for the future of Toledo and northwest Ohio."
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