Metro on Thursday announced that it has broken ground on a project that will finally build a bridge for freight and passenger trains over the busy intersection of Rosecrans and Marquardt avenues in Santa Fe Springs. See the above video. 

The bridge will replace the street level rail crossing which will reduce traffic congestion and reduce collisions. The $156-million project is expected to be completed in 2025.

Video of the media event Thursday morning can be viewed here.

On average, trains cross the intersection about every seven minutes — bringing vehicle traffic to a standstill for a total of 21 hours per week. An estimated 45,000 vehicles and 135 trains travel through this intersection each day.

From 2013 to 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission recorded 31 rail-motor vehicle incidents at the intersection resulting in six fatalities and seven injuries. The rail bridge will allow for freight and passengers trains to cross the intersection without disrupting local traffic.

To make this project possible, several transportation agencies provided the following funding:

California High Speed Rail Proposition 1A – $76.67 million

California Public Utilities Commission Section 190-City of Santa Fe Springs – $15 million

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway – $7.27 million

L.A. County Measure R sales tax – $26.50 million

Federal Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery (TIGER)- $15 million

California Senate Bill 1 Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP) – $7 million

California State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) – $9 million

For more information about the project, please visit the project page: metro.net/projects/rosecrans-marquardt-grade-separation.

“This project is right on time for this hazardous intersection,” said L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Hilda Solis. “Making the necessary enhancements to this intersection will provide a significant improvement to the flow of local street traffic, and it will enhance safety for motorists and rail operators who cross this intersection daily.”

“We all know that transportation is the lifeblood of our economy in Southern California. Without proper investments in our infrastructure supply chains fail, prices go up, and working families suffer,” said Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA). “This project will improve traffic flow for all commuters, reduce carbon emissions, and decrease the number of accidents we see at this busy intersection. I am proud to stand with partners across different levels of government as we begin this project, and I am proud to deliver $15 million in federal funds to help make it reality.”

“Federal Rail Administration congratulates LA Metro, BNSF Railway, the California High-Speed Rail Authority, California Public Utilities Commission, and all the other participating state and local partners on the start of the Link US project,” said Federal Rail Administration’s Railroad Administrator James Jordan.

“This train track has brought traffic here in Santa Fe Springs to a standstill for multiple hours a day, every day, for decades and is the most dangerous grade crossing in the entire state,” said L.A. County Supervisor and Metro Board Member Janice Hahn. “We are putting tax dollars to work making this intersection safe and fixing a problem that has caused traffic nightmares for years.”

“The California High-Speed Rail Authority is proud to be funding partners for this important transportation project,” said California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Brian Kelly. “Increasing public safety, improving mobility and helping improve air quality are three major benefits that this project will bring to the region, even before high-speed trains arrive in Southern California. We look forward to more partnerships like this in the future.”

“At Metro, safety is our number one priority for transit passengers and motorists in the region,” said Metro CEO Stephanie N. Wiggins. “This project presents a win-win situation for our freight and transit partners – we know that time is money, therefore we must do all we can to ensure that our rail crossings are not an impediment to delivering people and freight safely to their destinations.”

Photos of today’s media event are here.

Tagged as: bridge, freight trains, groundbreaking, Los Angeles County, Metro Board of Directors, passenger trains, rail crossing, Rosecrans/Marquardt Grade Separation Project, Safety, Santa Fe Springs, traffic congestion

Hooray, but too bad 2 lanes per direction will be woefully inadequate after too long.

Boo hoo take the train

what train would that be? There is no train on Rosecrans…

The wording in the first paragraph needs reworking. “finally build a bridge for freight and passenger trains over the busy intersection of Rosecrans and Marquardt avenues ” would be much better as “finally build a bridge for cars and trucks over the busy freight and passenger train tracks at intersection of Rosecrans and Marquardt Avenues”. The wording as is makes it sound like the trains will be on a bridge.

steve hymon lets build bridges over the west santa ana branch line. wsab has all 83 street crossings lets build bridges over wsab hrt or lrt about a 20.billion dollars

The video mentions bikes along with other traffic going over the bridge, but the rendition depicts the bikes traveling along the sidewalk of the bridge and no bike lanes or markings on the pavement itself. Will there be any space that is explicitly allocated for cyclists? Lack of space is a problem with older bridges throughout LA, but I don’t see any reason why a new bridge could not be built with the necessary space.

The bridge will be wide enough to accommodate bike lanes in both directions. The type of lanes will be up to the city of Santa Fe Springs.

Steve Hymon Editor, The Source

Walking / Riding a bike just got a heck of a lot more difficult. No stairs adjacted – it will fully take 10 minutes to cross the ROW. Unfortunate planning.

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