AASHTO Journal - FRA Issues $1.1B in Railroad Crossing Elimination Grants

The Federal Railroad Administration issued more than $1.1 billion in Railroad Crossing Elimination grants to 123 rail projects in 41 states; funding aimed at improving or studying more than 1,000 highway-rail crossings across the country.

[Above photo by the FRA]

The agency noted in a statement that those grants will support the construction of railroad overpasses and underpasses, fund safety upgrades, and make other improvements that will improve safety for pedestrians and motorists as well as rail workers and railroad passengers.

FRA said that the construction of new overpasses and underpasses, in particular, will eliminate the risk of collisions between trains and roadway users plus prevent blocked crossings—which delays motorists and emergency responders alike—greatly enhancing safety, mobility, and connectivity for local communities nationwide.

[Editor’s note: Concurrent with those grant awards, FRA issued $146 million in funding to strengthen intercity passenger train service on six railroad routes nationwide; helping to position newly initiated, restored, and enhanced passenger rail routes for long-term success.]

FRA noted that incidents at grade crossings are the second leading cause of rail-related deaths in the United States, with more than 2,000 incidents and 200 fatalities occurring at grade crossings each year. The agency added that, over the last 12 months, it received more than 26,000 complaints about blocked crossings through the agency’s Public Blocked Crossing Incident Reporter.

A host of state departments of transportation received funding from this round of FRA Railroad Crossing Elimination grants:

The Connecticut Department of Transportation received two grants; a $2.4 million award to develop preliminary engineering plans for consolidating crossings for the cities of Norwalk and Danbury and a $400,000 award to eliminate the Toelles Road at-grade crossing in the town of Wallingford.
The Illinois Department of Transportation received $43.1 million to support grade crossing and bridge-related improvements in the greater Chicago region as part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency or “CREATE” program.
The Iowa Department of Transportation received $540,000 to evaluate highway-rail grade crossing safety and a potential highway-rail grade separation in the town of Merrill.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet received $9.5 million to support grade crossing-related improvements on infrastructure owned by the CSX railroad company in Hardin, Larue, and Hart Counties.
The Maryland Department of Transportation received nearly $3 million to support grade crossing-related improvements in Baltimore County on CSX-owned infrastructure. Concurrently, the Maryland Transit Administration – a division of the Maryland DOT – received $150,000 to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the viability of a new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant grade-separated pedestrian and bicycle crossing at a MARC commuter rail station in the town of Kensington.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation received $1.2 million to support grade crossing-related improvements in the town of Longmeadow on Amtrak passenger rail-owned infrastructure.
The Michigan Department of Transportation received $73.4 million to support grade crossing-related improvements on Canadian National-owned freight rail infrastructure in in the town of Trenton.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation received $800,000 to study crossings along a 250-mile stretch of the BNSF Railway Northern Transcontinental Line within Minnesota’s borders.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation received $600,000 to evaluate 73 at-grade crossings along 64.5 miles of BNSF track statewide.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation received more than $44 million to support grade crossing and bridge-related improvements on BNSF infrastructure and on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief route in the town of Gallup.
The New York State Department of Transportation received two grants; one for $6.2 million to improve six crossings on Amtrak’s Hudson Line in the towns of Hudson, Glenville, and Hoffmans plus another for $2.6 million to complete the necessary preliminary engineering and environmental work for a highway-rail grade separation on Roaring Brook Road near the intersection of the Saw Mill River Parkway in the town of New Castle.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation received nearly $2 million to support grade crossing-related activities in Trenton Township on BNSF infrastructure and on Amtrak’s Empire Builder corridor.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation received three grants; one for $25.4 million to install a rail siding to improve three and close two grade crossings in the town of Davis; $1.2 million to evaluate an at-grade crossing at Basin Road in the town of Mannford; and $400,000 to evaluate 52 at-grade crossings in the towns of Edmond and Norman as well as Oklahoma City.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation received nearly $16 million to eliminate the at-grade railroad crossing of Elk Creek Road, one in the town of Rapid City, and one along the Eastern Railroad in the western part of the state.
The Texas Department of Transportation received more than $73 million to separate one grade crossing and close two additional crossings along BNSF track in the town of Farwell, TX, and Texico, NM., as well as help construct a new Texico bypass roadway alignment to allow for those grade separations and crossing closures.
The Utah Department of Transportation received $7.5 million to consolidate two adjacent rail corridors owned by Union Pacific and Utah Railways into a single corridor in Utah County; removing 19 grade crossings, abandoning seven miles of track through Spanish Fork and Springville, plus improving 10 additional crossings on the new consolidated corridor.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation received three grants; one for $1.4 million to initiate the WV 45/Apple Harvest Drive Grade Separation Study Project in the town of Martinsburg; one for $1 million to identify and address safety, traffic delay, and mobility concerns at six highway-rail grade crossings in Cabell and Mason Counties; and $800,000 to address safety and traffic delay concerns associated with two at-grade crossings in the town of Keyser.