City to close railroad crossing, portion of downtown street

SPRINGDALE — The City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night to close part of East Meadow Avenue from immediately west of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad tracks east to the point where Meadow meets the western edge of Luther George Park and the eastern edge of the Tyson Emma building and parking lots.

The area of Meadow the council closed changed since the proposed closing was reported in Monday’s edition of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Property owners along the route petitioned for the road to be closed, said City Attorney Ernest Cate. According to law, all property owners abutting the road to be vacated must give their approval, and they did, Cate said. A map provided by the city listed Poultry Growers Inc. as the owners of all parcels along the street, except the land that belongs to the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad.

Also according to Arkansas law, the two halves of the property that was the street will be titled to the owners of the properties abutting the street on both sides, Cate said.

An email to Tyson Foods, whose building and parking lots border the street, wasn’t answered Tuesday evening.

“It was a convenient place to close the road,” said Brad Baldwin, director of the Engineering Department. After closing the railroad crossing, “the street goes nowhere,” he said. The open part of Meadow will continue to provide

access to the backs of businesses on Emma, a church that fronts Meadow, the Springdale School District’s Archer Learning Center and Luther George Park.

The city and railroad will not close Meadow until a railroad crossing is added several blocks south at East Maple Avenue, Baldwin said. The Fire Department will continue to use Meadow to access the eastern part of downtown.

Mayor Doug Sprouse said recently city officials have been working to close the railroad crossing at Meadow for a number of years because it is a dangerous crossing. Sprouse didn’t attend Tuesday’s council meeting as he was in Washington for the National League of Cities meeting.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates railroads, always wants to eliminate “grade crossings” at intersections for less interaction with vehicles, said Ron Sparks, chief of police for the A&M Railroad, during a phone call last week. “Fewer crossings means fewer potential problems, fewer places for the motoring public to pull out in front of a train,” he said.

The closing of the crossing also is an advantage for the railroad as the street splits the switching yard for the passenger service, Baldwin said.

Jeff Wood, who lives in the neighborhood near Meadow, spoke against the closing Tuesday night during a public hearing part of the council meeting. He was the only resident to speak about the project.

Wood said he sees the closing as an inconvenience to the people who live downtown. He said many people prefer to use Meadow rather than East Emma Avenue — which runs one block north — because streetscape improvements to Emma have added several stop signs.

The permanent closing of Meadow and the railroad crossing will be part of a $2.5 million project which will include extending East Maple Avenue east from Holcomb Street to Park Street. Council members also voted 6-0 Tuesday night to hire Burns & McDonnell of Kansas City, Mo., to complete engineering services for street and drainage improvement for the Maple project. The price, not to exceed $151,375, will include geotechnical and right of way studies, property records search and preparation for documents prescribing the easements. The costs will be paid from money generated by the sale of bonds approved by voters in February.