(The Center Square) — The federal infrastructure invoice equipped tens of millions to lend a hand communities shut troubling grade crossings, however a U.S. senator from Georgia wants federal railroad authorities to take blocked railroad crossings extra critically.
“This is a major issue for communities across metro Atlanta and the state,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, mentioned throughout a Monday tournament. “Blockages at rail crossings are not just an inconvenience; they’re a threat to health and to life.”
The senator pointed to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also referred to as the Bipartisan Investment Law, which included greater than $573.2 million in fiscal 2022 for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program. Data presentations Georgia is likely one of the worst states for grade crossing crashes, and according to Operation Lifesaver, mentioning initial Federal Railroad Administration statistics, Georgia ranked 6th for highway-rail grade crossing collisions in 2022.
“The good news is that [Congress] passed a bipartisan infrastructure law, a long overdue investment in upgrading America’s infrastructure,” Ossoff mentioned. “…What I’m still not seeing yet from the FRA is the kind of attention to collecting reports from citizens and understanding exactly where the problematic crossings are so that they can coordinate with the rail operators to relieve them.
“So the great news is that the infrastructure legislation goes to lend a hand us get at this ultimately,” the senator added. “But the problem stays getting federal railroad authorities to take it critically.”
An FRA spokesman disputed Ossoff’s characterization, pointing to a December letter that FRA Administrator Amit Bose sent to Ossoff outlining the agency’s work.
“FRA will pay shut consideration to the problem of blocked rail crossings around the nation and takes the topic critically,” Cory Gattie said in an email to The Center Square. “In 2019, we introduced a Blocked Crossing Incident Reporter that we mechanically inspire contributors of the general public and legislation enforcement to record problematic crossings to so we will be able to have a greater figuring out of the problem. Since [the program’s] inception, we’ve endured to give a boost to the reporter, together with making it bilingual and imposing user-friendly updates.”
According to the site, there are no federal laws or regulations about blocked crossings. The agency said it uses information submitted on the site to track blocked crossings’ locations and impacts.
“Outside of examining the information within the reporter, FRA frequently works with communities and railroads to in finding answers, particularly when emergency responder get admission to is a priority,” Gattie added. “Such answers may come with the railroad voluntarily making operational adjustments to reduce such circumstances, in addition to doable longer-term native infrastructure growth tasks equivalent to grade separations.”
Grade separations could include rail overpasses or underpasses. Gattie pointed to projects in Houston, Texas, and Birmingham, Alabama, where the agency said it worked with local railroads and the communities to find solutions to blocked rail crossings.
As of about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, there were 1,234 reports of blocked crossings in Georgia in the past 12 months, most of which (1,157) were for reports of a “desk bound educate,” adopted by means of studies of shifting educate (41) or circumstances the place a educate was once now not provide, however the lighting or gates have been activated (36).
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