Rep. Sykes Announces Over $13 Million in Federal Funding for Railway Improvements in Hudson
AKRON, OH —U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes (OH-13) announced that the Federal Railroad Administration awarded the Ohio Rail Development Commission $13,705,000 in funding for railway adjustments in Hudson.
“I am pleased to announce this large federal investment in our community, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will continue working to bring federal funding home to Ohio’s 13th Congressional District to upgrade our infrastructure,” said Rep. Sykes.
“The Ohio Rail Development Commission was pleased to help the City of Hudson. The City has been looking to develop a grade separation at Hines Hill Road for over a decade. The Rail Commission is proud to be part of this important safety project for the community,” said Matthew Dietrich, Executive Director of the Ohio Rail Development Commission.
The project consists of removing an existing at-grade crossing and building a grade separation on a critical corridor in the City of Hudson. The project will improve safety, traffic flow, and emergency service response times. The Ohio Rail Development Commission, Norfolk Southern, and the City of Hudson will also contribute funds to the project.
This grant is a part of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Program, which invests in projects to construct grade separations, upgrade safety devices at crossings, or close at-grade crossings where roads and train tracks intersect. This announcement is part of an allocation of over $1.16 billion in funding to 123 projects in 41 states.
The Ohio Rail Commission was appropriated $100 million in the state’s FY24 Operating Budget to assist Ohio communities in competing for federal grade crossing elimination grant funding with the goal of developing projects that help secure the federal funding to eliminate at-grade railroad crossings in the state. The Ohio Program will provide state matching funds for this award from the RCE Program, which provides federal funding for highway-rail or pathway-rail grade crossing improvement projects that focus on improving the safety and mobility of people and goods.