Friday, May 12, 2000 (Washington, DC) U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces Funding

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced financial assistance grants totaling $5.3 million to five federally-designated high-speed rail corridors to eliminate hazards at public and private highway-rail grade crossings.

"These funds continue our commitment to enhance the safety of high-speed rail in America by eliminating hazards at highway-rail grade crossings," Secretary Slater said. "This effort supports safety, which is President Clinton and Vice President Gore’s highest transportation priority."

All public and private highway-rail grade crossings in designated corridors are eligible for funding which may be spent on closing crossings; consolidating or separating grade crossings; installing or upgrading warning devices; improving track circuitry, crossing surfaces, crossing sight distances or illumination; installing advanced train control or traffic control systems; and other related project development, analysis and engineering activities. The federal share of costs for improvements funded under the hazard elimination program may be up to 100 percent of the total engineering and construction costs.

Fiscal 2000 apportionments to five designated corridors are as follows:

* Pacific Northwest Corridor: Washington, $750,000; Oregon, $500,000.
* Chicago Hub Corridor: Wisconsin, $1 million.
* Gulf Coast Corridor: Louisiana, $350,000; Mississippi, $320,000; Alabama, $330,000.
* Southeast Corridor: North Carolina, $750,000; Virginia, $750,000.
* The Empire Corridor: New York, $500,000.

The funds will be used with other federal and state grade crossing funding to safely accelerate the implementation of high-speed rail in the designated high-speed rail corridors.

"We are all working to make this nation’s high-speed rail the safest in the world," said Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris. "These FHWA funds will help to improve the safety for both rail and highway users in each high-speed rail corridor across the country."

The program is managed jointly by the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), both agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Since the enactment of the Highway-Railroad Grade Crossing Program in 1973, highway-rail grade crossing fatalities have declined at public crossings from 1,185 in 1973 to 399 in 1999, representing a 66.3 percent decline in fatalities since the program began.

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) expanded the highway-rail grade crossing hazard elimination program originated under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA).