The Essex Street railroad crossing in downtown Andover is set to receive $850,000 in federal funding, filling most of a $1 million gap that had threatened to delay long-planned safety improvements at one of the town's most dangerous intersections.

Rep. Seth Moulton's press office announced on X Tuesday, Aug. 25, that the congressman secured the money through Community Project Funding earmarked for public safety and emergency preparedness. The Andover allocation is part of $1.35 million Moulton secured in the same round, which also includes $500,000 for North Beverly Fire Station renovations.

The money fills most of that gap.

The announcement came two weeks after Town Manager Andrew Flanagan told the Select Board on Aug. 11 that the town faced an unexpected funding shortfall of roughly $1 million. Flanagan said at the time that the town had completed the project's design and acquired necessary land, but a dispute with the MBTA over who should pay for signalization work had opened the gap.

"This construction season's closed, but our goal is next construction season," Flanagan told the Select Board on Aug. 11, as Andover News reported Aug. 14.

The crossing at Essex, Pearson and Railroad streets near Andover Station has been the site of at least six serious incidents involving vehicles or pedestrians since 2016, including two fatalities. In the most recent, on Aug. 7, a commuter rail train struck and killed a man on the MBTA's Haverhill line.

Andover received a $3.3 million MassWorks grant in 2023 for the broader Essex Street corridor project and a $250,000 state grant earlier in 2026. The town had been actively pursuing additional funding. Select Board minutes from June 29 show officials were tracking legislation for additional Essex Street crossing dollars.

The proposed redesign would more clearly separate vehicle and pedestrian paths, reduce crossing distances and better define where drivers should stop at the complicated intersection. The MBTA has said it supports the reconfiguration, though the agency and the town have disagreed over cost responsibility for signal work.

With the $850,000 secured, the remaining gap appears to be roughly $150,000 or less, though exact figures depend on whether project costs have shifted since Flanagan's Aug. 11 estimate. No specific construction start date has been announced beyond the town's stated goal of the 2027 construction season.