The Federal Railroad Administration is investing $1.24 billion in 91 rail safety grants across 37 states, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Oct. 30. The money comes from the FY 25-26 Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Grant Program.
The funding goes toward eliminating conflict points between roads and rail, closing at-grade crossings, and upgrading railroad traffic signals. That averages roughly $13.6 million per grant.
Four of the six highlighted projects involve grade separations:
$72 million for the Port Authority of Kansas City to eliminate three at-grade crossings through a grade separation in Missouri
$46 million for the Texas Department of Transportation toward an overpass carrying RM 2871 over the Union Pacific Railroad and Aledo Road in Fort Worth
$43 million for the City of Nampa, Idaho, to eliminate a frequently blocked crossing through the Robinson Road and Greenhurst Road Overpass Project
$6.4 million for the City of Marana, Arizona, to advance design, including NEPA and preliminary design, for a future grade separation on Tangerine Road and I-10
Signals and Studies
The Georgia Department of Transportation gets $31.7 million to upgrade railroad preemption interconnection to traffic signals at about 31 high-risk crossings.
Saint Louis County, Minnesota, gets $1.7 million to evaluate four at-grade public roadway crossings along a Canadian National mainline.
FRA Administrator David Fink said the grants will “reduce the occurrence of blocked crossings,” a problem the release flags in Texas and Nampa.
Keeping Score
This round follows $2.3 billion in CRISI grants for 105 projects across 45 states and D.C. Add the $5.3 billion August package, and those three announcements total about $8.8 billion.
Duffy says the department has invested “nearly $10 billion in American rail this year alone, with more on the way.”
Kansas City’s math: three at-grade crossings, headed for zero.
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