The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently awarded Lincoln, Neb., a $66.7 million grant to support a $120 million project that will make improvements to two railroad crossings and intersections near 33rd Street and Cornhusker Highway.
The project will build a new bridge over the rail corridor along Cornhusker Highway to eliminate the railroad crossings at North 33rd Street and Adams Street. The goal is to improve mobility across the rail corridor and multimodal connectivity in north Lincoln, reduce traffic delays, reduce congestion along roadways crossing the rail corridor, and eliminate or reduce conflict points between trains, vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
“With this historic grant, the largest competitive grant we’ve received as a city, we will improve safety, reduce traffic delays, and enhance transportation connections for Lincoln drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians,” Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said at an event celebrating the grant.
The project is in the planning, environmental analysis and preliminary engineering phase. Construction is expected to begin in 2028, and the project is expected to be completed in late 2031.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway carries an estimated 48 trains daily on the track that crosses North 33rd Street and Adams Street. At least 3.5 hours per day traffic is blocked at each railroad crossing.