‘It’s been a very long time coming’
Work starts on dangerous rail crossing, site of fatal 2012 crash
REDDING — On a sunny afternoon in December 2012, a Metro-North train slammed into a car at the Long Ridge Road crossing, pushing the mangled vehicle 50 yards before it tumbled down an embankment.
The driver, Jausheema Perkins, 19, and her boyfriend, Wayne Balacky, 21, both of Danbury, died following the accident, and the other two passengers were seriously injured.
Improvements are underway at the intersection to ensure that something like that doesn’t happen again. Work started about a month ago and may wrap up by the start of school, or the fall.
“I’m so grateful this is
happening,” said Dottie DeLuca, owner of Fleur De Lis Antiques and Design near the intersection. “We’ve been waiting seven years. We’re thrilled.”
DeLuca, who lives near the crossing, said residents and business owners had been trying to get gates installed at the site for at least a year before the fatal accident.
“It’s important we do something so these kids didn’t die in vain,” she said.
Work includes realigning Side Cut and Long Ridge roads and Simpaug Turnpike near the crossing for a more conventional intersection, gradually bringing the road up to better meet the tracks. Crews will enlarge the turning radius, reconstruct nearby driveways and upgrade drainage. The project should improve traffic and sight lines.
Renovations are expected to be finished by November, with the majority of the work including the realignment of Long Ridge and the relocation the rail crossing to happen when both are closed for 10 days this summer. An exact date is being worked out, but will most likely be in mid-July, said Stephen P. Curley, supervising rail officer for the state Department of Transportation.
First Selectman Julia Pemberton said a planning meeting is set for next week to determine closure dates, but said the plan is to do it when the schools are out.
Discussions about the crossing in general date back more than
two decades. Plans stalled, though, for a variety of reasons, including costs, other projects and environmental challenges.
“There was every excuse in the books to not put gates in, even though it wasn’t safe,” DeLuca said.
She said the state and town should have paid to install the gates then because two people would still be alive — and there wouldn’t have been a lawsuit resulting in $30,000 in damages for the town and more than $1.5 million in damages for Metro-North.
Gates were installed about four months after the fatal accident and Pemberton worked to secure funding to make the rest of the improvement plan happen when she was elected several years ago.
The project gained traction with the awarding of a federal grant a few years ago, Pemberton said.
The project costs about $1.5 million, with 90 percent coming from federal funds and 10 percent from state funds.
“It’s been a very long time coming,” she said.
Residents hope sidewalks, crosswalks and stop signs will be added and the shrubs removed to make it even safer.
Sidewalks are not included in this project but the shrubbery will be removed because the new road will go there, Curley said.
Based on the plans and discussions at a planning commission meeting this week though, those in the area think the project is a vast improvement. They hope the gates will either be positioned so it’s harder for people to scoot around them, or quad gates are installed.
“It’s really nice to see things are changing,” said Florian Spiekermann, who lives by the crossing. “It is a very problematic crossing for a number of reasons.”
The 2012 accident was the third at the Long Ridge Road crossing since 1970, according to Federal Railroad Administration records. Accidents happened there in 1989 and 2010, neither of which were fatal.
Residents and business owners have seen a variety of dangerous incidents at the intersection over the years, including people blowing through stop signs, weaving through gates and even passing cars while on the railroad tracks.
“It’s an obstacle course here,” DeLuca said. “I don’t want another death here.”
Trucks also occasionally get stuck because the track is higher than the road on either side. Spiekermann said trucks will sometimes screech over the track, or a crane will have to be brought in to remove the vehicle.
Pemberton said there are plans to beautify the area once the intersection work is done. Many in the West Redding area said they are eager for these beautification efforts and feel the town center has been neglected over the years.
“Overall, it will be a far nicer road and roadside than it is now,” she said.
The long-term goal is help bring people and businesses back to West Redding by making it safer and more attractive, Pemberton said.
“The West Redding train area used to be a huge draw,” she said. “It was a beautiful area for New Yorkers coming into the country.”