Dive Brief
- The U.S. Department of Transportation, via the Federal Railroad Administration, has announced $1.24 billion in grants for rail safety infrastructure projects, according to an Oct. 30 news release.
- 91 grants will be distributed to transportation agencies across 37 states through the FY 25-26 Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.
- The grants, authorized under the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will fund the removal of unsafe highway-rail conflict points, the closure of at-grade crossings, and the upgrade of railroad traffic signals.
Dive Insight
The rail grant news comes amidst ongoing uncertainty in the infrastructure realm. Construction professionals have been awaiting an extension of federal surface transportation programs through legislative reauthorization.
Despite this, infrastructure funding from the IIJA has shown a prolonged impact. In September, the DOT released $481 million in grants through the Federal Aviation Administration to improve airport infrastructure in 36 states and two territories. One month later, they awarded $426 million for critical infrastructure projects in a dozen states.
Some notable projects include:
- $72 million for the Port Authority of Kansas City to eliminate three at-grade crossings through a grade separation in Kansas City, Missouri.
- $46 million for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to construct a grade-separated overpass carrying RM 2871 over the Union Pacific Railroad and Aledo Road in Fort Worth, Texas.
- $43 million to the City of Nampa, Idaho, to eliminate an at-grade crossing and construct a grade separation as part of the Robinson Road and Greenhurst Road Overpass Project.
- $31.7 million to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to upgrade railroad preemption interconnection to traffic signals at approximately 31 high-risk railroad crossings across the state.
"The RCE grants announced today will provide communities nationwide with funding to make highway-rail grade crossings safer and reduce the occurrence of blocked crossings," said David Fink, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, in the release.
The grants follow a $2.3 billion investment via the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program announced earlier in October to improve over 2,000 miles of railroad tracks. This program was established in 2015 through the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
In addition to these grants, the FRA also announced a $5.3 billion investment package in August to fund select passenger rail projects across 23 states.