I recently went on the Federal Railroad Administration’s website. It can be a fascinating read for those looking for money to do rail transportation projects.

And what I found was a $7.2 billion a year program that is slated to continue for the next 5 years at the same funding levels. This program is “to advance projects that expand and establish new intercity passenger rail service…” I don’t know about you, but that seems exciting to me.

The first grant I came across in the program was one to replace the 100-year-old San Luis Rey River Bridge with a double track concrete bridge and eliminate a .6-mile single track bottleneck in the city of Oceanside. The tracks are also used by BNSF freight lines. Sounds like a place I know in South Florida where I live.

There is also a grant for a new bridge across the Connecticut River in Connecticut. Maryland has a replacement slated for a 115-year-old bridge crossing the Susquehanna River. There are more rail bridges being replaced than I can list. But you get my point.

What I don’t understand is why isn’t the St. Lucie River Bridge in Stuart, Florida on the list? It is a partnership between the states and the federal government so is that the reason? Tallahassee doesn’t want to take any Democrat Washington money. The projects I saw that were funded were not for private companies. Yet there was the San Luis Rey Bridge that has the BNSF component. There is nothing that said only government owned rail roads need apply.

It appears that elected officials need to be engaged to bring home the money. This is more than doable. It requires that all our governments work together to accomplish something. That is a hard ask in our complex fractious political world.

In the meantime, our federal and state representatives will speak with the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard to have a more equitable open and close bridge time and other such well-meaning but less effective problem-solving ideas. What we won’t do is ensure the funding for a new bridge. Isn’t that what our federal and state officials should be trying to do?