A a vehicle turns around as a stopped train blocks traffic on Milby in the East End on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in Houston.
Brett Coomer/Staff photographer
Houston Chronicle
Michael Murney, Chron
Most drivers have probably been through it: the bells start clanging, the red-and-white barriers descend and suddenly you're stuck in your car as a seemingly endless freight train blocks the road.
For residents and drivers in Houston's East End, this maddening scenario has become routine: the East End's congressional district has the most reported roads blocked by trains in the U.S., with more than double the second-ranked region, per reporting from the Houston Chronicle's Dug Begley.
Now, the federal government is chipping in nearly $37 million to help fix the problem. According to a Monday report from Begley, the City of Houston will receive $36.9 million in federal funds from the federal Railroad Crossing Elimination Program to build underpasses at Commerce at Navigation and at York Near McKinney.
Per Begley's reporting, the funds will go towards constructing "what federal officials called a 9,000-foot sealed corridor that removes seven different at-grade rail crossings for drivers in the East End, hemmed in by both Union Pacific and BNSF Railway yards." Houston is receiving the third largest award announced by the federal government on Monday, according to Begley.
The award marks a significant step forward for the underpass project, which has spent years in purgatory while city and regional agencies have tried to scrounge the funds to pay for it, according to Begley. In the past three years, trains have regularly stopped on the tracks near the East End's rail yards, causing delays on area roadways and angering local residents and elected leaders.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner called the grant "a crucial step in improving transportation equity for all users" on Monday, per Begley.