A proposed grade separation project for Fairway Drive and Valley Boulevard will get further study.

The Industry City Council this morning voted 5-0 to approve a $75,000 agreement with Walnut-based RKA Consulting Group to do a feasibility study for a grade separation for the Union Pacific railroad tracks near the intersection.

The concept of the project involves raising both Fairway Drive and Valley Boulevard to create an overpass.  The study would determine whether such a grade separation would be doable, according to city staff.

“I think they are looking at the result of what happened on Sunset Avenue where raising the tracks was successful there,” City Engineer John Ballas said.

A previous study the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority commissioned and completed in 2010 laid the groundwork for the various grade separation projects, but the study did not look at the feasibility of raising Valley and Fairway, wrote Steve R. Loriso, RKA’s vice president/director of engineering, wrote in a letter to the city.

The firm plans to present the city with two scenarios  - raising Fairway and Valley above the train tracks or creating “fly-over” ramps for the two thoroughfares.

The Alameda-Corridor East recently approved a priority list of eight grade separation projects, including the $72.9 million one that is the subject of this study.

Rick Richmond, the authority’s chief executive officer, said last month that the number of proposed projects exceeds the amount of funding that is available at this time and the list would need to be narrowed down further in the near future.

“The list will be restrained by the amount of money we can get a hold of,” he said.

In a separate action, the council voted 5-0 to approve a resolution supporting the city of Ontario's efforts to take over local control of the LA/Ontario International Airport.