A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) needs to improve its technical assistance for projects that would improve rail-highway crossing safety.
In specific, the report said the agency’s technical assistance doesn’t include examples of trespassing-related pedestrian projects that may be eligible for funding.
Railroad crossings pose risks for drivers and pedestrians, but there are more concerns with pedestrians trespassing at these crossings, the agency said. The FHWA provides funding for states to improve crossing safety using measures like installing gates. But the agency’s technical assistance fails to include trespassing-related projects as ones that may be eligible for funding.
The GAO recommended that the FHWA update its technical assistance materials to include more information for trespassing-related pedestrian projects.
Between 2019 and 2023, states added or upgraded existing equipment like bells, lights and gates at crossings. During that same period, states reported that 77 percent of projects had zero crashes at the crossing before and after using the program funding. State officials told the GAO that Railway-Highway Crossings Program funding helped projects address the overall safety risks at crossings.
Several changes were introduced to the program in 2021 as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The act increased the federal cost share for the projects from 90 percent to 100 percent and made pedestrian projects related to trespassing eligible for program funding. Representatives from six states said the program changes expanded funding options and clarified funding eligibility, but that it was too soon to tell if any of the safety effects from the program changed.
In 2023, there were nearly 1,900 crashes at railway-highway grade crossings, and pedestrians are increasingly part of those crashes. The FHWA provided at least $245 million per year in RHCP funding.
The GAO recommended that the FHWA administrator review the RHCP technical assistance materials and update them to include trespassing related information.