The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments Wednesday announced the award of $20 million in state funds for the construction of two rail-roadway grade separation projects along the Alameda Corridor-East freight rail corridor in eastern Los Angeles County.
The Section 190 Grade Separation Program provides state funding to local agencies to grade-separate or improve at-grade crossings, with the goal of eliminating the potential for collisions and alleviating traffic congestion.
“We greatly appreciate the continued support of our state funding partners, which will help deliver the final two ACE grade separations in the San Gabriel Valley,” said Eric Shen, the SGVCG’s director of Capital Projects/Chief Engineer.
“Grade separation projects create more livable communities, generate good-paying jobs during construction and reduce carbon pollution at crossings that contribute to the climate crisis,” he said.
According to the SGVCG, the state will contribute $15 million over a period of three years toward construction of an $188.3 million roadway underpass on Montebello Boulevard in the city of Montebello, scheduled to start construction in spring 2022.
An $83.7 million roadway overpass project on Turnbull Canyon Road in the City of Industry and unincorporated community of Hacienda Heights, scheduled to start construction in the summer of 2022, will receive an award of $5 million this year, according to Shen.
The California Public Utilities Commission develops a two-year priority list of grade separation projects statewide, and funding is allocated to construction-ready projects by the California Department of Transportation.
Five collisions resulting in three fatalities and one injury have been recorded at the Montebello Boulevard crossing, which is ranked as the second most hazardous crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad in Los Angeles County, according to the SGVCG.
The Federal Railroad Administration has recorded 14 collisions, including three fatalities, at the Turnbull Canyon Road crossing, which is ranked as the 30th most hazardous UPRR rail crossing out of 1,006 crossings in Los Angeles County.
Both crossings are used by a daily average of more than three-dozen freight trains carrying cargo to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and a dozen Metrolink regional commuter trains operating between downtown Los Angeles and Riverside.
