Here is the proposed picture of an overhead parkway that the city has been working on to create safer access for pedestrians, bikers and residents who live near rail lines. Photo courtesy of the City of Dixon

DIXON, CA (MPG) - “God is on our side,” said Dixon City Manager Jim Lindley upon receiving the news from Congressman (CA-04) Mike Thompson's office of a $25,221,639 Federal Railroad Administration grant for the long-awaited Parkway Boulevard Overpass. 

That is also good news for hundreds of parents and their children who have been stuck in long lines of morning traffic while they drove to numerous schools on the eastside of town. Those schools are Neighborhood Christian School, John Knight Middle School, Valley of the Sacred Heart Catholic School, Anderson Elementary and Dixon High School.

“It will take at least one-third if not half of the traffic off First Street,” said District 3 Council

Representative Kevin Johnson. “Six years ago, it was at the top of my list. Many people told us it would never happen. Jim Lindley called me and asked me, 'What is something big that you'd like to see happen' and honestly, I didn't even think of that, We've worked so hard on this and we've been carrying it on our backs for so long... People had lost trust in us. Now, they will have a little more trust that we're working for them.”

District 1 Council Representative Jim Ernest shared the news via phone from Lindley's office. 

“We owe a lot to (Congressman) Mike Thompson for this because he is the one that really pulled for us,” Ernest said. “It has been so long and we've worked so hard, even prior councils.”

Prior to serving in Congress, Thompson represented California's 2nd District in the California State Senate where he chaired the Budget Committee.

It has been nearly two decades since the Parkway Boulevard rail safety overcrossing idea was conceived. The timeline that began in 2004 authorizing a preliminary design, environmental documentation and other procedures was projected to end in 2025, with the final construction completed.

Numerous steps had already been accomplished beginning in 2008, despite delays in 2016 due to Union Pacific Railroad changes in requirements that sent plans back to a starting point.

According to a 2022 engineering report, and in a Dixon Independent Voice newspaper article on March 13, 2024, city officials were committed in 2024 to seek federal and state funds for the project based on the community's multiple needs. 

There was a significant basis for planning the overpass with the main one being Dixon's growing population. One report showed that there would be an additional 1,600 homes with units for up to 5,000 residents by 2025.

Because Dixon had no existing grade-separating rail crossings, the city has a history of rail safety issues with Dixon recording fatalities over the past 10 years. In addition, there were serious safety issues with the 40 fast-speeding trains threatening residential areas by limiting restricted emergency access and evacuation routes to downtown.

Decreased fatalities, improved emergency response time and safe rail crossing for bikes and pedestrians are a few of the project benefits, according to a city report. The project will also close an existing at-grade crossing at Pitt School Road while supporting Capital Corridor improvements and future high-speed rail lines.

To complete the project by 2023, an estimated $34.5 million more was needed. At that time, the city committed $6.3 million in Local Transportation Impact fees and $3.8 million in Regional Transportation Impact fees, totaling $9.8 million. That left a need for $24.7 million.

City of Dixon senior civil engineer Brandon Rodriguez reported then that the financial figures had changed slightly but based on the current design, if awarded the grant, the construction cost shortfall was approximately $25 million.

Final construction is planned to start this year.

“The Parkway Boulevard overcrossing will be a huge benefit to our community by increasing safety and helping to relieve traffic congestion,” Councilman Johnson said.