Cameron County is working on a project that may make highway traffic a little better. And, it may also help people who live close to railroad tracks sleep a bit better.

By 2010, most train tracks in Cameron county will be removed from urban areas.

“The idea was to relocate the rail line and bypass the urban area and relocate it to a more rural area in Brownsville.”

Cameron county administrator, Pete Sepulveda says the west rail project has been in the works since 2001

“In the 1990's, Cameron County there are 254 counties in the state, Cameron County was ranked #4 in Texas in auto-train collisions. It was a staggering statistic that Cameron County came across.”

The goal of the project is to eliminate the 14 railroad crossings in Brownsville. He says thousands of vehicles drive through these 14 crossings every single day which may be an inconvenience for many drivers.

“On a daily basis, there are about 100,000 conflicts between the train and privately owned vehicles.”

it will cost 26 million dollars to relocate the rails. The money for the project comes from a combination of federal, state, city and county funds.

“Safety is the biggest concern for the county. They want to move these rails away from people, schools, traffic and most importantly, neighborhoods.”

“Having the trains go through downtown, parks, schools, it's a huge safety risk that is out there.”

The county studied five different locations to see where the rails best fit.

“We looked at the different pros and cons, we did an engineering matrix that included the cost, and environmental included how the project will impact the environment, brought in fish and wildlife.”

Earlier tonight, the county commissioner's court got updates on how the project is coming along.