Americans have grown used to a certain rhythm when it comes to infrastructure projects. We hear the announcement with fanfare, wait through years of delays, watch the budgets swell, and too often we are left wondering if the promised benefits will ever arrive. Highway projects have a habit of congesting traffic for years, creating headaches for residents and traffic on all area thoroughfares.
That is not the story of the Howard Street Tunnel.
In the heart of Baltimore, a project of national significance and decades in the making has been completed ahead of schedule and on budget, and with benefits that will ripple across the entire U.S. economy, especially here in Baltimore.
The Howard Street Tunnel project represents the very best of American infrastructure: smart investment, bold engineering and partnership that works. CSX and our public partners came together to tackle a century-old bottleneck that had long constrained East Coast freight. By increasing the tunnel’s clearance, we will soon unlock the ability for double-stack container trains to move seamlessly through the entire East.
This upgrade will allow more goods to move efficiently across the country with fewer trucks clogging the highways, less carbon in the air and a stronger American supply chain. For shippers, it is a game-changer, for Baltimore, it is a competitive edge, and for taxpayers, it is proof that big promises can be delivered.
This success reflects a clear strategy and disciplined execution. CSX made the commitment, our workforce delivered the engineering and our partners at every level of government helped make it possible. Together, we turned a long-discussed idea into a reality.
This win is also helping the United States strengthen its industrial backbone. Freight rail underpins American manufacturing and commerce, so, from the goods on store shelves to the steel that builds our cities, to the energy that powers our homes, rail is essential. By opening this tunnel to modern freight capacity, we have strengthened that foundation for decades to come.
For the United States to bring back manufacturing, freight rail must be at the center of that effort. We cannot build cars, appliances or semiconductors without raw materials arriving on time and finished products moving quickly to market. Rail connects factories to ports, workers to opportunity and communities to global commerce. That is why investments like the Howard Street Tunnel are not just about moving trains but are about restoring America’s industrial strength and ensuring that growth happens here, not overseas.
For CSX, the tunnel is part of a broader strategy to modernize our network and expand opportunities for growth. From restoring key corridors damaged by natural disasters to strengthening connections with partner railroads across North America, we are building the most reliable and competitive freight system in the country.
Infrastructure is often talked about in the abstract, but its value is tangible. It is the bridge that gets rebuilt after a storm, the tunnel that clears a bottleneck, the rail line that takes thousands of trucks off the road. These are the investments that keep America moving. And they require discipline and follow-through.
The Howard Street Tunnel proves what can happen when we get it right: promises kept, on time and on budget. That should not be the exception in American infrastructure; it should be the standard.
Joe Hinrichs is the president and CEO of the transportation company CSX.
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