Texas Transportation Commission Awards $160MM in Five Rail Crossing Grants
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
TxDOT
AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Transportation Commission awarded five state grants for rail crossing separation projects.
According to Texas Rail Advocates, the five grants come from a new state rail fund and total $160.4 million. The Texas Transportation Commission authorized the Texas Off-System Rail Grade Separation State Fund Program to provide this financial assistance. The funds are “held in reserve”, according to a presentation made by Texas Department of Transportation Rail Division Director Don Franks.
The funds will go toward crossing projects in Amarillo, Houston, Laredo, and San Antonio to eliminate at-grade crossings. Texas Rail Advocates says the fund program was designed to help cities and county crossings that are not part of TxDOT’s highway grid but still experience traffic congestion and/or past accidents.
Amarillo
- BNSF Railroad Crossing at NE 24th Avenue in Potter County: $20,250,000
- BNSF Railroad Crossing at S. Georgia Street south of W. Sundown: $36,655,000
Houston
- Griggs-Long-Mykawa Grade Separation Project in Harris County: $40,000,000
Laredo
- CPKC Rail Grade Separation and Safety Enhancement Project at Santa Maria Blvd in Webb County: $58,509,607
San Antonio
- San Antonio UP Railroad Crossing at Zarzamora Street/Frio City Road in Bexar County: $5,000,000
More than $58 million will go toward CPKC’s Santa Maria Rail Grade Separation Project in Laredo. With the elimination of at-grade crossings, congestion will be reduced and freight movement will “speed up.” Around $90 million will be held in reserve by the TxDOT Rail Division “while the agency now applies for matching federal funds so that state dollars can be stretched further.”
TRA President Peter LeCody said, “This is a good day for rail and road safety and something that Texas Rail Advocates has been working toward ever since the rail division was established in 2009. . . Thanks to your foresight, an Exceptional Item request for $175 million last session turned into a first-time ever grant program of $250 million passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Abbott.”
