Friday, July 23, 1999 (Washington, DC)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced financial assistance grants totaling $6.95 million to eight federally-designated high-speed rail corridors to eliminate hazards at public and private highway-rail grade crossings.

"President Clinton and Vice President Gore launched a comprehensive livability agenda to strengthen the federal government’s role as a partner in helping communities across America grow in ways that ensure a high quality of life and strong, sustainable economic growth," Secretary Slater said. "These grants will facilitate the coming of high-speed rail and improve safety, which is President Clinton’s highest transportation priority, by helping to remove hazards at highway-rail crossings."

All public and private highway-rail grade crossings in designated corridors are eligible for funding which may be spent on crossing closure; consolidation or grade separation; installation or upgrade of warning devices; improvements to track circuitry, crossing surfaces, crossing sight distances or illumination; installation of 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 1999 apportionments to the eight designated corridors are as follows:

California Corridor: California, $250,000.
Pacific Northwest Corridor: Oregon, $400,000; Washington, $500,000.
Chicago Hub Corridor: Illinois, $350,000; Indiana, $200,000.; Michigan, $500,000; Wisconsin, $500,000.
Florida Corridor: Florida, $300,000.
Southeast Corridor: North Carolina, $1,000,000; South Carolina, $150,000; Georgia,$250,000; Virginia, $500,000.
Gulf Coast Corridor: Louisiana, $325,000; Alabama, $345,000; Mississippi, $355,000; Texas, $125,000
Keystone Corridor: Pennsylvania, $500,000.
The Empire Corridor: New York, $400,000.

The funds will be used with other federal and state grade crossing funding to accelerate the implementation of high-speed rail in designated high-speed rail corridors. A Federal Register Notice on Dec. 11, 1998 solicited applications from states, either singly or in conjunction with other states, for funding projects in the above corridors.

"The hazard elimination program is key to making high-speed rail successful in the United States," Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris said. "This program also will significantly improve the safety of both rail and highway users in each corridor where improvements are being made."

"This money is important toward eliminating safety hazards and continuing the reduction of highway-rail crossing fatalities," said Federal Highway Administrator Kenneth R. Wykle. "We have successfully reduced highway-rail grade crossings fatalities by two-thirds since 1973 and are committed to reducing them even further."

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 385 in 1998, representing a 67.5 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). The program is managed jointly by the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Highway Administration, both agencies of the U.S. Department of Transportation.