COLUMBUS — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine today announced the availability of $100 million in funding to help local communities eliminate dangerous railroad crossings.

Ohio has approximately 5,700 railroad grade crossings, which are locations where roadways intersect with railroad tracks. Funding from Governor DeWine’s new Ohio Rail Crossing Elimination Program will support the work of local communities to engineer construction projects to eliminate these crossings and pay matching funds that are required for additional support from the Federal Railroad Administration.

“To compete for federal grants, communities need the resources to develop the projects, prepare federal applications, and commit matching funds to make Ohio’s grant applications competitive,” DeWine said.