County looks to reduce railroad track traffic

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - After receiving multiple complaints about how bad the traffic is, how long the trains are and how long people have to wait for them to pass, Yuma County has decided to apply for a grant to help relieve the traffic in the 9E and Fortuna Road railroad area.

"All around adds to commute time so it can kind of make this area congested with those trains here," said owner of local company Canyon State Safety & Consulting LLC Robert Carrasco.

Carrasco is one of many people fed up with the situation 

To help remedy the problem, Yuma County is looking for a chunk of the one billion dollars received by the Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration.

They are looking into applying for a grant totaling over one million dollars.

The 9E tracks are near the Arizona Game and Fish Location and Carrasco adds how much of a headache trying to cross can be.

"Keeping us from getting to work, it's keeping the kids from getting to school, college students from getting to their classes, alternate routes around here they’re far away, we’re using Fortuna or we're having to use Araby and it’s really really out of the way," said Carrasco.

The county is planning to use the money for a planning process which would give them an idea of what the cost benefits are and how the project could potentially look.

"These residents are frustrated and they want to know why nothing's being done about it and I think these are the first steps in trying to do something  about that for them," said Community Planning Administrative Director Diana Veloz.

The city was able to share what the next phase was after the planning process.

"For us to focus more on the actual project and the alternative that we picked so what did we pick did we pick an overpass, an underpass, a bridge, what did we pick to ro eliminate that railroad crossing," said Veloz.

The plan is still in the early stages but it approved they plan on beginning work during the start of 2025.