Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Springdale considers closing railroad crossing for safety
SPRINGDALE — Two longs. A short. A long.
That’s the whistle call a railroad engineer must make at each street crossing to warn drivers a train is coming. Engineers with the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad blow almost continuously as they guide trains through downtown Springdale.
The railroad runs from six to eight trains each day on the East Meadow Avenue crossing, said Ron Sparks, chief of police for the railroad. Meadow runs east to west one block south of East Emma Avenue, and the city is considering closing the crossing.
The Springdale City Council will hear comments from residents during a public
hearing during its Tuesday meeting. After hearing from the public, the council will vote whether to close the crossing. Residents unable to attend the meeting may contact local council members or the mayor’s office with their feedback prior to the meeting.
The city proposes opening a new railroad crossing on East Maple Avenue and extending the street east from Holcomb Street to Park Street. The project is estimated at $2.5 million, which will be paid with money the city will receive from the sale of bonds residents approved last month.
Railroad officials approached city leaders about closing the crossing at Meadow several years ago, said Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse. The crossing sits immediately to the south of the railroad’s passenger depot.
“It’s a dangerous, blind crossing,” Sprouse said. “The Maple crossing will be a better crossing, with a
lot more visibility.”
But at the time, the city was planning streetscape improvements and development of the Tyson complex along East Emma Avenue in November. These improvements — part of the downtown revitalization project — required the closing of Emma for several months.
The fire department still needed a route to quickly reach the eastern part of the city, Sprouse said, so the Meadow crossing was kept open. Now, the new crossing at Maple will be more convenient for the fire department, as it runs just to the south of Station 1 on Holcomb Street, with access to Maple already in place.
Closing the crossing is a very simple process, Sprouse said. Once the council approves the projects, the city can close the crossing almost immediately by erecting signs and barriers, with a more permanent closing built during the Maple project.
The council also will vote Tuesday night to hire an engineering firm to design the Maple project.
“The stars have been aligned, and now is a good time to get started,” Sprouse said.
LOWERING POTENTIAL
Sparks said the railroad is in negotiations with the city to close the crossing. “But there are a lot of bridges to cross before we are done. The ball’s in the city’s court right now as they conduct engineering studies.”
The railroad would lay track at the new crossing, but who pays for what — and even if the project is possible because of the grading of the railroad — will be decided in the future.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates railroads, always wants to eliminate “grade crossings” at intersections for less interaction with vehicles, Sparks said.
“Fewer crossings means fewer potential problems, fewer places for the motoring public to pull out in front of a train,” he said.
Sparks explained that because of the weight of the train and its connection with the tracks, a train can’t stop immediately if a car is on the tracks and can’t swerve to avoid a car.
A&M recorded two incidents — one in West Fork and one in Barry County, Mo. — in 2017 involving a train and a vehicle at road crossings, resulting in one fatality, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The railroad operates a 150-mile route from Monett, Mo., to Fort Smith.
The closing would benefit the city, the Razorback Greenway — which also crosses the tracks there — and the railroad, Sparks said. “It’s safer for the motoring public. It’s safer for the trains. It’s safer for everybody.”
DOWNTOWN PLAN
The closing of the Meadow crossing fits nicely into the plans for downtown Springdale development, said Kelly Syer, executive director of the Downtown Springdale Alliance. Among other ideas, the plan is designed to increase walk-ability.
Tyson recently moved about 300 workers to its Emma facility, just a few hundred yards from the railroad crossing. Employees park in a lot south of Meadow and must cross the street each day.
“Tyson has so much pedestrian traffic in that area,” Syer said. “It will be a nice measure to slow things down, so people can look around and take part.”
A grant from the Walton Family Foundation paid for initial design plans for renovation of Luther George Park to align with the downtown improvements. The park borders Meadow a few yards to the east of the crossing and Maple along the southern edge of the park.
“It is incredibly, heavily used by the neighborhoods near the park,” Sprouse said. The improvements should allow easier, safer access for children who are walking to and from the park.
Most of the downtown improvements have focused on Emma Avenue, Turnbow Park and Shiloh Square, Syer said. Now, officials are turning their eyes south of Emma. Syer would reveal no details, but she said projects coming later this year will utilize open space south of Emma.