If you routinely cross some of Franklin and Greenwood’s busiest railroad crossings, you may have noticed your ride is a little bumpier than before upgrades were done to the tracks last year.
That is due to the Louisville and Indiana Railroad Co. not using the right materials and not paving as far out from the tracks as they should have, city officials said. And now, they want the railroad to fix the problems.
The question is whether the railroad company is required to make those fixes. And if not, city officials said taxpayers will have to fund those repairs.
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Upgrades to railroad tracks in Johnson County, which cut through Edinburgh, Franklin, Whiteland and Greenwood, were completed last year, including improvements to 21 railroad crossings. That work was part of a multi-million dollar project by CSX, which is upgrading the Louisville and Indiana Railroad in order to run more, longer and faster trains as approved by the Federal Surface Transportation Board three years ago.
Last summer, the work on the crossings resulted in delays for drivers who had to take detours and required emergency workers to create contingency plans to ensure fire trucks and ambulances could reach residents on both sides of the tracks.
But now that the work is complete, Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett and Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers both say they have concerns about the quality of the work at several key crossings in their communities.
Officials from the Louisville and Indiana Railroad Co. were not available Wednesday and Thursday.
In Franklin, the railroad company didn’t use the right quality material when rebuilding the crossings and at several locations didn’t repave the road as far out from the crossings as it should have, Barnett said.
The type of asphalt used to rebuild the crossings was not as strong as what city rules require other contractors to use when they make road repairs, such as if a road section has to be dug up and then repaired to fix a utility line, he said. Barnett’s concern is that the crossings will deteriorate faster, and who would be responsible for those repairs isn’t clear.
At several of the crossings, such as on Earlywood Drive, Graham Road and Commerce Drive, the new paving doesn’t go as far out from the railroad as it should have, based on city rules, he said.
In Greenwood, where the railroad crosses Main Street and Old Meridian Street, the pavement is rough and bumpy, compared to what were smooth crossings prior to the crossing work, Myers said.
Myers isn’t sure what caused the issue, whether that could be the types of materials or equipment that was used, but the railroad company should be responsible for leaving the area in as good condition as when work started, he said.
Whether the cities will be able to get the railroad company to come back and make the fixes they are requesting isn’t clear.
Because railroads are federally regulated, city officials have few options to require the company to come back and make repairs. The issues have been brought to the attention of railroad officials, but the company has yet to agree to do any further work, Barnett said.
Franklin will likely have to use local tax dollars to fix issues, such as extending paving farther than the railroad company did, because of the poor conditions of the roads, he said.
How much that might cost has yet to be determined, he said.
Myers has been in contact with the the railroad company about the condition of the railroad crossings but has yet to secure a guarantee that the problems will be resolved, he said.
Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t go toward the repairs, he said.
“If worse comes to worse we would have to pursue some type of legal recourse against them, or have them give us the money and give us the permission to work on the easements and right-of-ways,” Myers said.
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Greenwood and Franklin mayors say the quality of work done when upgrades to railroad crossings were made last year doesn’t match their standards, and are pressing the Indiana and Louisville Railroad Co. to make what they say are necessary improvements. Here’s a look at some of the crossings where officials say more work is needed:
Greenwood
Main Street
Old Meridian Street
Franklin
Graham Road
Commerce Drive
Earlywood Drive
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