BNSF Forms Public Infrastructure and Investments Team

(Image Courtesy of BNSF)

BNSF on Feb. 6 reported that it is partnering with local communities and public agencies to advance safety infrastructure projects across its 28-state network through its newly assembled Public Infrastructure and Investments team.

The team is ready to help eligible applicants apply for federal grants—from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant program to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Mega and INFRA programs—to improve grade crossing safety, according to the Class I railroad.

BNSF helps communities and public agencies to identify projects and available funding opportunities and to navigate the grant application process, including writing, community outreach, and solicitation of letters of project support, the railroad said.

For example, BNSF’s separate Public Infrastructure and Investments teams in 2022 worked with the city of Flagstaff, Ariz., to secure funding through the INFRA program for the Flagstaff Downtown Mile Safety and Connectivity Improvements Project. The $32.46 million award will be used to deliver pedestrian safety improvements, as well as freight and passenger rail infrastructure enhancements along an approximately one-mile segment of the BNSF Transcontinental Corridor. Work includes a pedestrian underpass at Rio de Flag; an underpass at Milton Road to allow for the future widening of the road from four lanes to six lanes and increased vertical clearances; a pedestrian underpass at Florence-Walnut; and the installation of pedestrian gates at the Beaver Street and San Francisco Street at-grade highway/rail grade crossings.

“Enhanced safety measures like pedestrian gates, signaling, signage, and multimodal pedestrian underpasses will help reduce incidents and bring awareness to the community about the importance of railroad safety,” said Christine Cameron, Senior Project Manager of Capital Improvements for the city of Flagstaff. “We wouldn’t have been able to make this project happen without BNSF coming to the table and utilizing their grant expertise to gain funding for a mutually beneficial project that connects our city’s neighborhoods.”

“Connecting and serving communities across our network has been BNSF’s priority for more than 170 years,” BNSF General Director of Public Infrastructure and Investments French F. Thompson said. “We believe in collaborating on infrastructure projects that enhance the safety, economic, and social well-being of our communities and networks.”