Detroit City Council has approved a contract worth more than $6 million to fix dangerous railroad crossings and replace aging infrastructure across the city, but residents pushing for a broader overhaul say they will likely wait years before seeing real improvements.
The council-approved deal, first reported by CBS News, targets crossings that residents and city officials have flagged as hazardous, with the funding earmarked specifically to replace deteriorating track infrastructure. Detroit has a lot of ground to cover: a City of Detroit Legislative Policy Division inventory documented at least 162 active railway grade crossings within city limits, tracked through state transportation data. That scale helps explain why residents pressing for an expanded scope of work are being told the fixes will take years, not months, to materialize.
Why Detroit Can't Just Fine the Railroads
Part of the frustration stems from a legal reality that limits what cities can do on their own. U.S. Supreme Court litigation records confirm that federal courts have consistently ruled state and municipal blocked-crossing laws are preempted by federal law, which means Detroit cannot fine or legally penalize freight railroads for stalling traffic at intersections. The Court denied certiorari in Ohio v. CSX Transportation in January 2024, affirming that preemption under the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. That leaves cities like Detroit dependent entirely on physical engineering fixes — repairs, closures, or expensive grade separations — rather than legal leverage against rail operators.
Detroit has used that closure option before. In February 2024, the City Council approved an agreement with the Michigan Department of Transportation to accept $125,000 in state funding to permanently close the Selkirk Street railroad crossing over Conrail tracks, a move aimed at improving neighborhood traffic safety. The Local Grade Crossing Closure Program that funded it compensates municipalities for eliminating dangerous at-grade crossings altogether rather than repairing them.
A Regional Push for Bigger Fixes
Detroit's crossing repairs are part of a broader wave of Wayne County and southeast Michigan projects aimed at freight rail bottlenecks. In March 2026, construction began on a long-sought rail overpass on Allen Road in nearby Woodhaven, intended to bypass daily train delays that had blocked drivers for up to 20 minutes, as reported by FOX 2 Detroit. And in January 2025, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded $73.4 million to the Michigan Department of Transportation to build a grade separation over Canadian National freight tracks on M-85 in Trenton, funded through the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.
State lawmakers have also floated more permanent solutions. Michigan legislators introduced a bill in May 2023 to establish a statewide Grade Separation Fund for building bridges and underpasses at problematic Metro Detroit crossings, citing risks to emergency medical and police response times, according to CBS News. Michigan's enacted transportation budget for the current fiscal year allocates $6 million annually from the Michigan Transportation Fund specifically for local rail grade crossing surface improvements, per the Michigan House Fiscal Agency — though municipalities seeking bigger overpass or underpass projects through MDOT's Local Grade Separation Program must still supply a minimum 10 percent local cash match to qualify.
Growing Complaints, Persistent Safety Risks
The frustration in Detroit mirrors a statewide pattern. Public complaints to the Federal Railroad Administration over blocked train crossings in Michigan reached nearly 900 incidents over the 12 months ending in July 2026, driven largely by increasingly long freight trains stopping for maintenance and switching, according to Michigan Enjoyer. The safety stakes are real, too: Federal Railroad Administration data showed 55 vehicle-train collisions at Michigan crossings in 2022, down from 63 the year before, while such incidents cause more than 2,300 injuries or deaths nationally each year, per WKAR Public Media.
For now, Detroit's newly approved contract represents a targeted step rather than the sweeping rail overhaul some residents are asking for. With federal preemption ruling out penalties against railroads and multi-year timelines standard for design, environmental review, and construction coordination, the wait for broader relief at the city's most hazardous crossings looks set to continue.
