HARLINGEN — For decades, officials have worked to cut traffic delays along railroad crossings in the city in an attempt to make Harlingen’s streets safer.

Such projects cut back on passing trains bottle-necking traffic, City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said Thursday.

As rail crossings bisect several roads across the city, Union Pacific Railroad’s trying to stop its trains from blocking crossings for longer than 10 minutes.

But in the last six months, trains have blocked crossings for as long as 40 minutes to a hour, he said.

“As the Valley grows, the amount of rail cars will increase just as much,” Gonzalez said.

Fortunately, the U.S. Transportation Department is funding the $5.6 million project through the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, aiming to scrap about 1.7 miles of railroad track between Business 77 and Jefferson Avenue, closing the seven crossings while opening one crossing.

And that’s welcome news to business owners.

The project will upgrade railroad lines crossing Business 77, running along Jefferson Avenue, said Bill DeBrooke, a downtown property owner.

“That track is so bad the trains coming out of Brownsville come real slow — those are usually 80-plus cars,” DeBrooke said. “This will allow trains to go faster. It’s really going to help traffic going north and south on First Street and the Sunshine Strip.”

As part of the project, the local agency will fund 20 percent of the cost.

The project will connect Union Pacific’s Harlingen and Brownsville tracks while straightening two curves.

The track’s extension between Jefferson and Adams avenues will remove the old Southern Pacific switching yard east of Commerce Street between Ona Street and Orange Heights Street, along with a rail line between Commerce Street and Adams Avenue, officials said.

The project’s new connection will close about two miles of tracks between Business 77 and Jefferson Avenue, easing traffic flow and making streets safer.

Meanwhile, city officials continue planning to relocate the city’s last switching yard.

“When we have a switching yard in the city, sometimes it causes problems,” Gonzalez said.

“The ultimate goal will be to try to relocate the switching station completely out of town,” Gonzalez said, adding plans include moving the switching yard north of town.

For years, city officials pushed to relocate Union Pacific’s East Commerce switching yard.

In 2010, a $17 million project moved the big switching yard to Olmito, cutting down on regularly long delays of about 45 minutes.

As part of the project, Harlingen pitched in about 10 percent of the total cost, dipping into money remaining from a 2003 bond issue.


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