Becker’s Federal Lobbying team secured more than $15 million in federal funding to upgrade safety at rail crossings on the busy Florida East Coast Railway line throughout Broward County. The grant, from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), was awarded to Broward’s Metropolitan Planning Organization in early June. It is part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help reduce train-vehicle collisions and blocked rail crossings across the country.
Broward MPO will use the funds to increase safety at 21-grade crossings along the East Coast Rail Corridor, a freight rail corridor shared with Brightline’s passenger rail service. Along the corridor, 17% of collisions are the result of motorists driving around entrance gates, with nearly 60% of those instances occurring in Broward County. Safety improvements aim to deter this by constructing 33 new exit gates and 7 raised medians at crossings where at least 27 collisions have occurred over the last five years.
Along with Broward MPO, six local municipalities will increase safety at crossings where more than 60 trains per day are estimated to pass through by next year and benefit a County projected to grow by nearly 2.2 million by 2045.
According to Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI), a nonprofit and nationally recognized leader in rail safety education, Florida ranks #4 in the country for the number of highway-rail grade crossing collisions that occurred in 2022. There were 117 collisions, 21 deaths, and 51 injuries reported.
Late last month, Broward MPO unveiled a “Don’t Risk It” rail safety education program designed to dissuade motorists from trying to beat trains across the tracks.