As Minnesota’s Legislative session is entering its final two weeks, my community and I would like to express how important the Grade Separation (Underpass) project in Downtown Moorhead is for the safety and well-being of our fair city.  Our residents can tell you how frustrated they are by trains that block our North/South movement, but the more important thing is it is also a huge safety issue.  Moorhead is divided by five active freight and AMTRAK rail lines that carry more than 100 trains each day.  This increased rail traffic has made the at-grade crossings impassable 23 percent of each day.  The Moorhead Fire Department, which is located North of the rail lines, experiences on the average nine delayed emergency responses per month.  Every minute counts when you are experiencing a medical emergency or your home is on fire.  This will also improve multimodal safety throughout our city.  Each day, over 130 school buses carrying 2,000 students cross the railroad tracks to access our High School.  The recently completed MnDOT Statewide Rail Plain identified this Grade Separation as their #1 Priority.  It is a clear priority for us. We believe that it is important that our Minnesota Legislature passes a Bonding Bill that includes rail safety projects in this session.  We believe that this project will provide the much needed infrastructure it requires to keep the citizens of Moorhead safe. Thank you for considering signing our petition, Del Rae Williams, Mayor of Moorhead