The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is awarding a $15.4 million grant to improve rail crossings along the Brightline rail corridor and the Florida East Coast Railway corridor in southeastern Florida.
The Brightline rail corridor is an intercity passenger service, while East Coast Railway is serves primarily freight lines.
In addition to Broward County, the cities of Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Dania Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and Pompano Beach are contributing an additional $3.9 million to the project, bringing the total investment to $19.3 million. The FRA’s grant comes via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
Local officials estimate that 60 trains pass through the corridor and its 21 crossings each day.
Broward County has had seven fatalities in under five years, four involving vehicles and three involving pedestrians/bicyclists. If the proposed rail crossing improvements were implemented, officials estimate about half of these deaths could be prevented..
The project will install new exit gates, medians and complete crossing seals to keep vehicles and pedestrians from bypassing safety gates, reducing these rail crossing-related tragedies.
Image by Tom from Pixabay
The post FRA grants $15.3M to improve rail safety in Broward County appeared first on Government Market News.