DANGEROUS railway crossings in Lincolnshire will be closed or made safer after £110 million was earmarked for improvements nationally.
The Office of Rail Regulation is spending the cash on shutting 500 level crossings in Britain within six years.
There will also be new bridges, underpasses, gates and signs where people have been killed or narrowly escaped death.
It is a particularly poignant project for Grimsby, as Paul Hodge, 47, and David Williams, 40, were killed at a level crossing in Great Coates in April.
Just hours after the tragedy, three men and a youth were spotted crossing the railway line nearby – seconds before trains were due – leading to warnings from experts.
There are 7,000 crossings in the UK, including 281 in Lincolnshire, and Network Rail claims there are hundreds of incidents each year of people jumping barriers or driving into box junctions.
The £110 million investment means the organisation can continue with its ongoing policy to seek to close or divert crossings or introduce safety features where practicable.
Spokesman Rachel Lowe said: "Crossings over railways are part of the heritage that we inherited from our forebears.
"They were fine for traffic speeds and volumes when the railways were originally built, but not now.
"Where we can, we work with local authorities to divert routes and build footbridges."
Figures supplied by the Rail Safety and Standards Board show one accidental death at a Lincolnshire level crossing in the past five years.
Teaching assistant Moira Koune, 30, died after her car became stuck at the South Drove level crossing in Spalding and was hit by a train in January 2009.
In addition, there were four minor injuries to workers from slips, trips or falls, one minor and one major injury to cyclists, two cases of a train striking an empty car and three reported near misses, one a road vehicle and two with pedestrians.
An inquest into the deaths of Mr Hodge, of Grimsby, and Mr Williams, of Cleethorpes, is expected to be held in January before a jury.
It will follow the submission of a report into the fatal crash compiled jointly by British Transport Police and Rail Accident Investigation Branch.
The friends were returning from work on Immingham Docks de-waxing cars when their car was hit by a train.
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