7/15/2009 6:01:00 PM Railroad crossing arms going in
By T.J. JERNIGAN Staff Reporter
Railroad crossing arms are being installed on Beacon and Main streets in a $475,000 project, MDOT announced.
MDOT is working in conjunction with the Kansas City Southern Railroad Company and the city of Philadelphia.
Monica Ramsey, MDOT Intermodal Transportation Planner, said signals with gates will be installed at each of the crossings while tracks east of the depot will be removed.
Work began last week on the signal and gate installation at both crossings and should be completed by the end of the July.
MDOT will provide curb work around the crossing sometime this week, which should only be a minor inconvenience to the motoring public and not require any temporary road closure, Ramsey said.
Original plans for this project included the installation of a new concrete surface on both of the crossings at an additional cost of
$288,000, but that part of the project is still pending, she said
A project to upgrade the crossings has been under evaluation by MDOT, Kansas City Southern Railroad, and the city of Philadelphia since 2005, but due to the high cost of upgrading the two separate crossings and the limited funds available to MDOT through FHWA Hazard Elimination Protective Device budget allocation, the project was not officially set up until 2008.
"We had some problems with utility conflicts with the gates at the crossing but the city officials in Philadelphia worked efficiently with our efforts and were able to get these moved to accommodate with the improvements," Ramsey said.
