BNSF Railway ready to help communities applying for federal funding to enhance safety

FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway (BNSF) is partnering with local communities and public agencies to advance safety infrastructure projects across its network. With its newly assembled Public Infrastructure and Investments team, BNSF is ready to help eligible applicants apply for recently announced federal grants to improve grade crossing safety across America.

“Connecting and serving communities across our network has been BNSF’s priority for more than 170 years,” said French F. Thompson, BNSF general director of public infrastructure and investments. “We believe in collaborating on infrastructure projects that enhance the safety, economic, and social well-being of our communities and networks.”

BNSF’s Public Infrastructure and Investments teams have a long history of working with public partners to secure robust funding to deliver mutually beneficial key infrastructure projects on, across, or along the 28-state BNSF network.

In 2022, the city of Flagstaff and BNSF partnered to secure funding through the USDOT Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highways Projects (INFRA) program, part of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) program, for the Flagstaff Downtown Mile Safety and Connectivity Improvements Project. Once complete, the project will deliver a suite of multimodal transportation safety improvements, freight and passenger rail infrastructure enhancements, walkability and pedestrian safety improvements, community connectivity improvements, and associated construction impact mitigations.

“Enhanced safety measures like pedestrian gates, signaling, signage, and multimodal pedestrian underpasses will help reduce incidents and bring awareness to the community about the importance of railroad safety,” said Christine Cameron, senior project manager of capital improvements for the city of Flagstaff. “We wouldn’t have been able to make this project happen without BNSF coming to the table and utilizing their grant expertise to gain funding for a mutually beneficial project that connects our city’s neighborhoods.”

BNSF assists its partners in identifying available funding opportunities and helping navigate the process to apply for grant funding on networks that interface with the BNSF network. The BNSF Public Infrastructure and Investments team can assist with project identification, the grant writing process, and solicitation of letters of support to highlight the project’s importance.

To learn more about how to partner with BNSF to deliver successful infrastructure projects in your community, visit the newly launched Public Projects and Public Infrastructure and Investments page here, or reach out to grantsupport@bnsf.com.

Contact
Kendall Kirkham Sloan
Director of External Communications
Media@BNSF.com