USDOT Puts $1.24B Toward Rail Safety in 37 States

The U.S. Department of Transportation is sending $1.24 billion to rail safety projects across 37 states. The Federal Railroad Administration announced the 91 grants on Oct. 30 through the FY 25-26 Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, according to an agency news release.

The money, authorized under the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, targets some of the most dangerous friction points in American infrastructure. Funded work includes removing unsafe highway-rail conflict points, closing at-grade crossings and upgrading railroad traffic signals.

What does this change for communities?

It means fewer places where cars and trains collide — and fewer blocked crossings. David Fink, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, said in the release: "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."

The specific projects run from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast:

• $72 million for the Port Authority of Kansas City to eliminate three existing at-grade crossings through a grade separation in Kansas City, Missouri.
• $46 million for the Texas DOT to build 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 DOT to upgrade railroad preemption interconnection to traffic signals at roughly 31 high-risk railroad crossings across the state.

A long tail of IIJA money

The announcement lands at an awkward moment for builders. Construction pros are still waiting on a legislative reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs, and uncertainty in the infrastructure realm hasn't eased.

Even so, IIJA dollars keep flowing. 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, the DOT awarded $426 million for critical infrastructure projects in a dozen states.

Rail is getting its own steady stream. The RCEGP announcement follows a $2.3 billion investment, revealed earlier in October, through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Grant Program to upgrade more than 2,000 miles of railroad track. Congress established the CRISI program in 2015 through the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act.

The FRA hasn't stopped there. In August, it announced a $5.3 billion investment package funding select passenger rail projects spread across 23 states.

For contractors and transportation agencies, the message is straightforward: the IIJA's pipeline is still delivering work even as Washington debates what comes next. The crossing-elimination grants give states and cities concrete, funded projects — overpasses, separations, signal upgrades — they can put out to bid now.