Officials in Industry gathered this week to mark the completion of the Fullerton Road Grade Separation Project, a six-lane underpass now tucked beneath a four-track Union Pacific railroad bridge that carries both freight and Metrolink trains. The new roadway replaces a railroad crossing that had been the site of collisions for years, and local leaders are framing its opening as a major win for safety and traffic flow in the San Gabriel Valley.
The project lowers Fullerton Road under the existing tracks rather than forcing vehicles to cross them at grade, according to MyNewsLA.com, which reported on the ceremony marking the underpass's opening. The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments has said the finished underpass is expected to serve more than 25,000 vehicles a day while handling industry and nearby Rowland Heights traffic that previously had to contend with train delays at the surface crossing.
Ed Reece, president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, called the opening “a monumental achievement for the San Gabriel Valley,” adding that the project “represents a commitment to public safety, reduced congestion, and improved resident quality of life,” per MyNewsLA.com's report. Trains travel through the corridor roughly 91 times daily, and the underpass is designed to keep that traffic from backing up vehicles at street level.
A Crossing With a Troubled Safety Record
Accounts of the former crossing's safety record vary depending on the source. MyNewsLA.com reported that the Federal Railroad Administration recorded six collisions, including one death and three injuries, at the former Fullerton Road crossing. A separate accounting on the Alameda Corridor-East project's own page states that the Federal Railroad Administration recorded two train-vehicle collisions at the crossing over a recent 10-year period — a discrepancy the available records do not resolve.
Whatever the precise collision count, the project's backers have consistently pointed to the crossing's hazards as the reason for building the underpass. The project is intended to reduce delays for emergency responders and commuters, improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, and cut down on vehicle idling, emissions, train-horn noise, and crossing-alarm noise, according to the same MyNewsLA.com report.
A Price Tag That Has Shifted Over Time
Just how much the underpass cost depends on which year's figures you consult. The project's page on theaceproject.org now puts the total at $274.7 million. But a decade ago, the numbers looked very different: a 2015 report in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune described a “fully funded $145.2 million grade separation project,” while a 2016 account from Railway Track and Structures pegged it at $145.6 million. The dossier does not reconcile why the estimate roughly doubled over the life of the project.
The construction contract went to Shimmick Construction Company in March 2016, the trade publication reported, and major construction activities did not actually begin until June 2019, when Fullerton Road was closed to traffic, according to the ACE project's own account. The gap between contract award and construction start reflects just how long this project has been grinding through planning and funding before shovels hit dirt.
Traffic Projections Also Tell Different Stories
Estimates of how many vehicles use Fullerton Road have shifted just as much as the cost figures. The ACE project page projects Fullerton Road traffic rising from 23,716 to 25,315 vehicles per day by 2025, while the 2015 Tribune report cited a figure of 34,432 vehicles per day on the same road. Projected daily delay reductions have likewise ranged from 73.2 vehicle-hours per day, per the 2015 Tribune report, to 50.4 vehicle-hours per day in a separate account tied to an expected 2019 completion from Railway Track and Structures. None of the available sources clarify which numbers reflect current conditions.
A May 2025 update posted on X by the Alameda Corridor-East Project account said trains had begun running on newly completed mainline tracks, calling it “a big step forward as we work to complete the project by 2026.” That cutover appears to have set the stage for the completion marked this week, though the exact final completion date has not been independently verified beyond officials' recent announcement.
A Tribute to a Former Congresswoman
Wednesday's ceremony also included a dedication honoring former Rep. Grace F. Napolitano, recognizing her public service and advocacy for transportation infrastructure, public transit, and goods movement throughout the San Gabriel Valley, according to MyNewsLA.com's account of the event. The gesture tied the project's completion to decades of regional political work aimed at untangling the valley's freight corridors from its local streets.
Part of a Larger Regional Push
The Fullerton Road grade separation is the 17th project completed under the Alameda Corridor-East program, which encompasses 19 railroad grade separations and safety improvements along the freight corridor, per the same report. A close comparable sits just down the road: the Fairway Drive project in Industry, which created a four-lane underpass and railroad bridge to replace what Progressive Railroading described as a hazardous crossing with 17 recorded accidents, including three fatalities and 11 injuries, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
That $250.1 million Fairway Drive project was the 16th grade separation built by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, and the completed underpass was expected to serve more than 26,000 vehicles daily while accommodating up to 91 trains by 2025, Progressive Railroading reported. The council held a ribbon-cutting for that project on July 24, 2023, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune — giving San Gabriel Valley residents a recent preview of what a finished grade separation looks like in practice before Fullerton Road's own opening this week.
