Two weeks before a scheduled public hearing on the matter, some Columbus residents are already voicing their opposition to the possible closing of six railroad crossings on the city’s south side.
Two main issues residents of Seventh Street South have focused on are the impact of traffic funneling into their street as a result of the closures and the possible decrease in accessibility for emergency personnel.
The hearing will be held Aug. 15 at 5 p.m. at the municipal complex and will provide residents an opportunity to ask questions and get information on a proposal to close railroad crossings at Second Street South, Sixth Street South, Eighth Street South, Ninth Street South, 10th Street South and 17th Street South.
Kansas City Southern Railway Company owns the rail line that crosses those streets. Company vice president and spokesperson Doniele Carlson responded to calls from the Dispatch via email, stating that KCS partners with the Mississippi Department of Transportation and local communities when possible to enhance safety at grade crossings.
“Columbus has 12 at-grade crossings in approximately one-and-a-half half miles of KCS’ main line through south Columbus,” Carlson said. “The close proximity of the 12 crossings allows for options that were not available in the past. These options will be discussed at the hearing.”
Any idea of what the options might be are unclear, say Cartney-Hunt House owner Marleen Hansen and Seventh Street residents Richard and Frances Laws and Sid Caradine.
Hansen has sent an email to her neighbors informing them of the public hearing notice, which was published in The Dispatch July 14.
Many of the homes along the streets which would become major traffic arteries are historic, some dating back to the mid-1800s. Added non-residential traffic would detract from the residential character of the street and dilute home values, Hansen said.
“There would be a traffic impact because we don’t have a lot of traffic, and that’s fine because this is a residential neighborhood,” she said. “We just want answers to the questions. Has there been a traffic impact study and has there been an engineering plan? That will reveal the flaws in the plan of redirecting traffic.”
Richard Laws said closings present a safety issue and a major inconvenience for residents of the area.
“A fire truck would have to come down Seventh Street, go around and come back up four more blocks, which would take three minutes,” Laws said. “There’s not enough traffic on it to warrant closing the roads. If you lived just across the railroad track, you’d have to go three extra blocks to get home every single day you came and went home or went to work.”
“What happens if they push everybody coming down Seventh and you get a big backup in front of the fire station — Let’s say you get a large backup of six, seven or eight cars because they’re all funneling and you get a fire. That extra time may mean a lot. What about an ambulance trying to get through there? Let’s say somebody overnight parked (on the side of the street). The fire truck could not turn on that street to get over there,” Caradine added. “They’re hard to get through anyway. It’s been laid out like this for as long as the town was founded in 1821. As far as traffic? The city is shrinking. There’s less traffic. There’s no reason to try to restructure the traffic. People are moving out in the county.”
Engineering firm Neel-Schaffer, with permission from MDOT, has worked with the city on a traffic impact study with projected closing scenarios and data on the amount of daily traffic at each crossing. That data will be made available to the public at the hearing.
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor said the condition of the crossings themselves were a reason for considering the closures and would be a topic of discussion during a Ward 1 community meeting Aug. 12 at Propst Park.
“The potential of possibly closing the railroad came about because of the conditions of the crossings,” Taylor said.
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box said the city has closed railroad crossings as recently as two years ago with little to no impact and that the city was compensated by the railroad for the closings.
“It’s kind of a mutual agreement where, rather than have to keep the railroad crossings up — it’s very expensive to do that — they pay the city to close them,” he said. “The last two they closed they paid $50,000 to close it. I think it’s been beneficial to both areas. Down on Railroad Street, every street they’d want to cross, you have a crossing, and you don’t need that. That’s just not necessary because if they closed one, you could go one block either way and find another crossing. I don’t see any problem with it myself, and so far I have not heard anybody complaining about it.”
Box said he understands the concern of extra traffic in an historic neighborhood and looks forward to hearing residents’ input.
“I haven’t thought about funneling traffic into other streets, but they could just as easily go the other direction,” Box said. “They have a right to present their case, and it will be heard. We have changed in the past when the public responded. We definitely would listen to their objections and hopefully make a decision on what’s best for everybody.”
Local attorney Hal McClanahan, who was instrumental in representing residents of Co-op Road in Lowndes County two years ago and having it re-opened after it was closed, said while he was not as familiar with what municipalities are or are not able to do in terms of closing thoroughfares, anyone impacted should speak out.
“If there is a public hearing and if the citizens affected do not show up and protest, then you can rest assured the crossing will be closed,” he said. “If they give a hearing notice and you have an opportunity to voice your opinions, whatever they may be, and you choose not to do it, you’re going to be stuck with whatever the regulatory body wants to do.”
Should the council proceed with closing the crossings, Hansen said she would request that signs be placed on Seventh Street South designating that trucks are not allowed, lowering the speed limit to 25 miles per hour for traffic calming devices to be installed as necessary.
“If they proceed with the closings, then the signage and slowing the speed limit and watching it to see if we need traffic calming devices (is necessary),” she said. “I think the main thing is perhaps the people trying to get across the tracks from the other side. There would be more of them at Seventh Street waiting for the train to go by and you wouldn’t be able to go one way or the other to a better crossing.”
Budget hearing
The mayor and city council will hold a special meeting Thursday at 9 a.m. in the old courtroom at City Hall. The meeting will be for discussion of the FY2013-2014 budget and is open to the public.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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