First Quality Expansion: Walnut Street Railroad Crossing Is Next
LOCK HAVEN – The $300 million expansion at the First Quality Tissue facility goes into its next phase in early July.
PennDOT announced Thursday that part of E. Walnut St. in Lock Haven will be shut down for three days as of July 6 as a Maryland contractor will replace the existing rail crossing on the rail line leading to First Quality. A local detour will be in effect.
The work will include removing the old railroad equipment, excavating for the new crossing — which will be about eight-feet to the west of the existing track, and placing a new, 170-foot-long railroad crossing. The railroad will also get new warning signals.
The relocation of the railroad crossing has been coordinated with First Quality Tissue’s access road project. After the relocation of the rail line and the installation of the railroad crossing surface, the First Quality Tissue access road construction will continue.
Mike Flanagan, chief operating officer for the Clinton County Economic Partnership, provided additional information on the railroad line relocation and the related roadway construction. He said Rhinehart Railroad Construction of Fallston, MD will begin the July 6 work to move the existing crossing and eventually the entire line into First Quality Tissue so the adjacent road can be completed.
Flanagan said the road construction is essentially already underway toward the First Quality facility and will move toward the rail crossing.”The road work will go until November, with final paving next spring. Wolyniec of Williamsport has the $2.9 million new truck entrance road contract,” he said.
The construction of the First Quality Tissue access road is part of its expansion—funded through a multi-modal grant awarded in 2017 to the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority, which is the project sponsor.
First Quality has some 1,700 employees at its various Clinton County facilities. The new project is expected to add another 184 jobs. Construction on the building to house FQ Tissue’s third tissue manufacturing machine began earlier this year. Production is expected to begin sometime next year. The announcement of the expansion was first made in December of 2014.
