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Residents concerned over railroad crossing closings

L to R: Tim Perkins from the Ohio Rail Development Commision, and city traffic engineer Valerie Griffin address concerns about the possible closure of the Waneta Avenue railroad crossing with residents Danny Mills and Randy Moore during a public meeting Wednesday, July 14, at the city building in Middletown.

Staff photo by Nick Graham L to R: Tim Perkins from the Ohio Rail Development Commision, and city traffic engineer Valerie Griffin address concerns about the possible closure of the Waneta Avenue railroad crossing with residents Danny Mills and Randy Moore during a public meeting Wednesday, July 14, at the city building in Middletown.

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By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 8:24 PM Wednesday, July 14, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — Dave Green has counted the amount of cars that access the Naskar Drive Thru via Waneta Avenue, and he knows its enough to put him out of business if the railroad crossing closed.

Before heading to a public meeting Wednesday, July 14, at the city building to discuss the possible closure of crossings at Waneta and Grand avenues in Middletown, Green said he counted 100 cars drive up to his business that day. Of those, 72 traveled via Waneta.

After serving the nearby neighborhood for 11 years — selling everything from beer and cigarettes to food items and diapers — Green said shutting down the rail crossing will force customers past two other similar stores, which would make it difficult for his business to compete.

“Road closure is not an option for me,” Green said. “This would absolutely kill me and put me out of business.”

The meeting was the first step of a preliminary proposal by Norfolk Southern and the Ohio Rail Development Commission to close the two crossings and make more than $2 million in upgrades to crossings to improve safety. Public Works officials collected comments from the about 15 attendees to present to City Council at its Aug. 17 meeting.

Rudy Husband, spokesman for Norfolk Southern, would not release specifics on why the railroad is targeting the Grand and Waneta crossings for closure, but cited the Federal Railroad Administration’s goal announced in 1991 to close 25 percent of highway-grade crossings.

While the Waneta crossing has been the site of at least three deaths — in 2006 and 2008 — William Peck, 75, who has lived on Yankee Road for 35 years said he thinks closing it will be more dangerous. The move would force traffic onto Oxford State Road, where a road dip causes blind spots and the signals are not set up to handle the excess traffic, he said.

“This (closure) is not for safety, it’s for the benefit of the railroad only,” he said.

Tim Perkins, grade crossing specialist for the ORDC, said Norfolk Southern would be required to make its proposed crossing upgrades before any closures would take place, so even with council approval it would be several months before any changes could take place.

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