Rails to Trails Corridor, Phase I through Phase III ESA, Contamination/Site Assessment of Pesticide and Petroleum-Contaminated Soil and Groundwater, Human Health Risk Considerations, and Development of Engineering Controls
   Florida

Overview
The Rails to Trails project is a good example of a comprehensive work scope for various municipal and state agencies that involved completion of Phase I through Phase III ESA, contamination and site assessments, consideration of human health risk, and development of engineering controls. The property transaction was negotiated by the Florida Trust for Public Lands on behalf of the purchaser, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the seller, CSX Rail Lines (CSX).

Initially, Water & Air was contracted by the City of Gainesville to perform a Phase I ESA in 1998 that identified over 100 sites that could potentially impact the proposed corridor as it trends over 16,000 feet through metropolitan Gainesville. The trail corridor, originally owned by CSX, traverses a wide variety of industrial, commercial, and industrial environments. Potential impacts were identified resulting from a wood treatment facility, a pesticide company, a number of both in service and historic gasoline stations, a rail line fueling depot, abandoned debris and waste piles, dry cleaners, and residual impacts from herbicide containing arsenic used on the rail line to control vegetation.

Comprehensive Phase II assessment of various areas identified pesticide impacted soil and groundwater, petroleum impacted soil and groundwater, and arsenic impacted soil from various sources and locations throughout the corridor. Phase III and Site Assessments were conducted over the course of several years to delineate the extent of impacted soil and groundwater. As a result, one area impacted by pesticide contaminated groundwater and soil was removed from the proposed corridor, thereby reducing the overall corridor by over one mile, but saving the purchasers hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in assessment and remediation costs and legal fees.

Details

• Phase I, II, and III Assessments
• Soil Testing
• Regulatory agency coordination
• Engineering Controls

Results
Human Health Assessment and evaluation issues were required due to the proposed public use as a pedestrian and bicycle path. Water & Air engineers helped develop engineering controls to decrease exposure to arsenic-impacted soil greater than residential cleanup target levels that is present throughout the corridor. These controls included a variety of designs including expanding pavement width of selected areas, designing corridor curves and routes to cover impacted areas, and planting vegetation to control exposure.