Rail crossing fixes considered

Springdale council looks at spending $290,167 for repair

SPRINGDALE — Drivers on East Huntsville Avenue might soon have a smoother ride over the railroad tracks.

The City Council on Tuesday will vote on approving a $290,167 repair for the road on either side of the crossing. The money will come from undesignated money in the city’s general fund.

The city’s Public Works Department would replace the asphalt road on both sides of the tracks up to concrete panels that hold the railroad tracks, explained Ernest Cate, the city attorney.

The Arkansas & Missouri Railroad, which owns the tracks, will upgrade the area within the railroad’s right of way, explained Ron Sparks, chief of police for the railroad.

Sparks said the work probably will start next month, without closing the road or the tracks. The city will ensure automobile traffic is rerouted, if needed.

The improvements are the first in an agreement between the city and the railroad to improve dangerous railroad-street crossings in the city, Cate said.

The council in October approved $3 million of work over the next six years.

City officials focused on the Huntsville crossing for the first repairs because the crossing receives more traffic than most in the city, Cate said. About 20,000 vehicles cross the tracks on Huntsville each day, according to traffic counts by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

It’s also the crossing about which city officials hear the most concern, he said.

Sparks noted much of the traffic is trucks as the road serves as a truck route through the city and the industrial area and technology park to the east of the crossing.

A five-axle tractor-trailer loaded to the 80,000-pound federal limit has the same impact on an interstate highway

as 9,600 automobiles, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In addition, as truck axle weights increase, pavement damage increases an at even faster rate, the office’s website reads.

Sparks said he couldn’t share the amount of rail traffic that uses the crossing.

A map of the city shows 11 railroad crossings with the A&M railroad.

The city built a new railroad crossing at Maple Avenue for $500,000 as part of its 2018 bond program. Railroad officials asked the city to provide $10 million in insurance coverage for liability at the crossing, paid in perpetuity, and a $13,000 yearly maintenance allowance before it would allow the city to open the crossing.

The city also agreed under the measure to close the railroad crossing at the intersection of Caudle Avenue, Holcomb Street, Crutcher Street and the railroad tracks. The crossing was considered one of the city’s most dangerous with only stop signs to halt drivers before crossing the tracks.

The city in 2018 closed the Meadow Avenue crossing at the railroad’s request. Downtown offices of Tyson Foods had recently opened at the intersection, and the passenger depot of the railroad near that crossing often blocked the view of motorists trying to cross the tracks.

The city also closed Hewitt Street to the east of the railroad’s shop building at the railroad’s request.