4 Arizona rail projects, including 1 in Gilbert, receive $46.4M in federal funding
Jan 14, 2025, 3:00 PM
PHOENIX – Four Arizona rail projects, including one in the Valley, were awarded a total of $46.4 million in federal infrastructure funds, officials announced last week.
The funding will go toward crossing safety and mobility improvements in Gilbert, Marana, Yuma and the Hualapai Tribe reservation.
The Arizona grants were announced Friday as part of a $1.1 billion investment in 123 projects in 41 states, the single largest outlay in grade crossing safety in the history of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
The money comes from FRA’s Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program, which was established under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“Safe and efficient transportation is crucial for Arizona’s communities and economy,” Sen. Mark Kelly said in a press release. “This funding to upgrade old rail crossings will protect drivers, improve the movement of goods and people, and create jobs, ensuring a safer and more reliable transportation system for everyone.”
What Arizona rail projects received federal funding?
In the only Phoenix-area project receiving funds, Gilbert will use its $2.5 million award to help evaluate the safety and efficiency of 14 highway-rail grade crossings and explore the possibility of removing three of them. A grade crossing is a spot where a street or highway crosses railroad tracks at the same level.
The largest of the Arizona awards is for the Hualapai Tribe, which is getting nearly $23 million. The funds will go toward creating a grade-separated overpass and installing anti-intrusion fencing along the rail corridor in the Mohave County community of Peach Springs.
Meanwhile, the town of Marana, north of Tucson, was awarded $20.4 million to develop and design a proposed crossing improvement project.
The smallest grant is for Yuma County, which received $640,000 to study the possibility of removing three Union Pacific track crossings.
The latest wave of rail infrastructure funding comes after the four Arizona projects received $60 million from the FRA’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements in October.