The work to construct a multimillion-dollar railroad grade separation project on Nogales Street and Gale Avenue continues to make progress.

The City of Industry, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Alameda Corridor-East Authority are working together to get the construction underway.  The Industry City Council recently approved a construction, operation, and maintenance agreement involving the three entities.

The agreement will enable the Alameda Corridor-East Authority to construct an underpass grade separation at Nogales Street at the Los Angeles Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad, according to the staff report.  The project will be at the set of tracks closer to Gale Avenue and the 60 freeway.

“We are very excited about this project,” City Engineer John Ballas said.

City of Industry will be responsible for maintenance of the entire roadway, the retaining wall, and the bridge abutment, he said.  The city has contributed $12 million to the project so far, he said.

Officials with the Alameda-Corridor East have estimated the total cost of the project at $95.9 million, which includes work done to demolish a Mobil gas station at Nogales Street and Gale Avenue in August and the acquisition of land at the northwest corner of the intersection.

When finished, the project will include a six-lane roadway underpass and double-track railway bridge that will separate trains from traffic on Nogales between San Jose Avenue and Gale Avenue/Walnut Drive North, according to the authority.  Construction is expected to begin early this year.

Before crews start work on the underpass, Gale Avenue and Walnut Drive North at Nogales will be widened to two lanes in each direction to ease bottleneck conditions at the intersection, officials said.

Around 45,000 vehicles travel Nogales Street each day and traffic is negatively affected by the 33 trains that go through the intersection daily, according to the authority’s data.

The Nogales project is one of several the Alameda Corridor-East has in the works.  On Monday, the authority’s Board of Directors will consider eight projects as the final grade separations to complete the authority’s program, including City of Industry projects on Fullerton Road, Turnbull Canyon Road, Puente Avenue, and two on Fairway Drive.