Railroad crossing issues are aired
Railroad crossing issues are aired
By STU MERRY
Traffic should be able to flow through Garrison’s main arteries a little easier now that all entities appear to be on the same page when it comes to traffic near the city’s railroad crossings.
Officials with the Dakota, Missouri Valley and Western Railroad, Inc., met with Garrison’s City Council and officials from the Garrison Fire Department and Garrison-Max Ambulance Service at a special meeting Monday night. The meeting was called by Alderman Chris Gratton, Garrison Farmers Union Elevator/CHS manager.
Gratton has been fielding calls and hearing comments that when rail cars from unit trains are being positioned at the elevator the crossings are closed for too long a period.
“People are kind of frustrated when all the crossings are blocked,” said Gratton.
The majority of the time only one crossing is closed when rail cars are being jockeyed into place. But there have been other times the County 15 crossing west of the elevator, the Highway 37 crossing east of the elevator and the access road adjacent to Highway 37 are all blocked. And on the rare occasion when two unit trains are jockeying cars the crossing a half-mile northwest of Garrison is also closed.
While holding up traffic is one concern, another is that valuable time would be lost if the crossings were closed and emergency vehicles were held up in their response.
Garrison Fire Chief Bruce Schreiner, along with Mark Foss, Garrison-Max Ambulance Service general manager, requested that at least one crossing remain open in case of emergency.
