U.S. Sens. Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter announced committee approval Friday of a $2.5-million contribution to the CorridorOne project.

The bill, which came out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, now awaits action on the Senate floor.

Specter, a senior member of the committee, said CorridorOne and the other projects listed in the bill are "necessary advancements to the state's infrastructure and an important force for economic growth in our local communities."

Funding for CorridorOne is slated to pay for final design and beginning construction costs.

The rail project is meant to take commuters off congested highways and place them on high-speed passenger trains operating on Amtrak rails east of Harrisburg and on Norfolk Southern freight lines to the west.

Covering 58 miles of rail, the entire project is estimated to cost $87 million.

The Modern Transit Partnership project has already been promised more than $63 million through various state and federal funding sources. Lancaster County has contributed at least $75,000 to the project, according to newspaper records.

Once completed, CorridorOne trains would depart from stations every 30 minutes during morning and evening peak periods and every hour at other times.

Plans call for stops at 11 local stations, including Mount Joy, Elizabethtown and Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown. One-way fares could be as low as $3.50, compared to $11 for a one-way fare to Harrisburg on an Amtrak line.

Some CorridorOne project officials have predicted at least one stage of the rail line will be running by 2008.

The federal transportation bill approved in committee Friday also includes:

t $630,000 for improvements to Route 30 and Route 230 (Harrisburg Pike), where plans call for a "single point urban interchange."

The design modifies ramps exiting Route 30 so they meet at the center of the bridge, where a sole signal controls traffic, thus eliminating traffic lights at each end of the bridge and keeping traffic moving more of the time.

The funds also would pay to widen roads, add lanes and improve signals at several other points along Route 230.

t $1.6 million for construction of a four-story intermodal transit center in Williamsport.

t $1 million for the Harrisburg Southern Gateway project, designed to mitigate transportation and land-use issues in the city, restore the city's street grid and improve access to Route 83.

The Appropriations Committee also approved funding for various community and economic development projects.

The Economic Development Co. of Lancaster is slated to receive $200,000 through the bill.

The money, if approved by the state Legislature, would fund demolition, redevelopment and construction of the former Armstrong World Industries plant on Liberty Street.

The 41-acre site of the idled flooring plant will be divided between Lancaster General Hospital and Franklin & Marshall.

Armstrong, which is retaining 19 acres on Liberty Street, plans to build a modern, 350,000-square-foot flooring plant there.

Tom Knapp's e-mail address is tknapp@lnpnews.com.