Saturday, March 08, 2008
57 Miles Of Railroad Work Begins Monday in Pike and Floyd Counties
John Fortune, Appalachian Division Roadmaster for CSX, said that most of the crossings are on private property and will not affect the traveling public. “We are working with the Pike and Floyd County road departments, the City of Pikeville , and Highway District 12 to ensure that traffic disruption on the public crossings is minimal. The most heavily traveled crossings affected are at Allen, Banner, Tram, Harold, Boldman, Broadbottom, the ones parallel with Thompson Road, Island Creek, Joe’s Creek, and the one near the Johns Creek Volunteer Fire Department.”
Joe Stanley, Maintenance Engineer, said that traffic control at all the crossings which are on state right of way will be handled by Highway District 12 maintenance crews. “We will have a combination of flaggers, portable message boards, barrels, signs, and cones – whatever the particular crossing work requires.”
The work will begin at Ford’s Branch and go west toward Allen, then move back to Ford’s Branch and go east through Johns Creek to Jesse Branch near Millard.
Work at each crossing should take about one day, Fortune said. “We will let the area radio stations know a day or two in advance before work starts on each public crossing. We want to thank people in advance for their patience and understanding. In most places there are convenient detours. In a few places there are not. But we have found that as long as people know what is going on, they are glad to make a temporary sacrifice because they know the end result will be a safer rail system and smoother crossings.”
Joe Stanley, Maintenance Engineer, said that traffic control at all the crossings which are on state right of way will be handled by Highway District 12 maintenance crews. “We will have a combination of flaggers, portable message boards, barrels, signs, and cones – whatever the particular crossing work requires.”
The work will begin at Ford’s Branch and go west toward Allen, then move back to Ford’s Branch and go east through Johns Creek to Jesse Branch near Millard.
Work at each crossing should take about one day, Fortune said. “We will let the area radio stations know a day or two in advance before work starts on each public crossing. We want to thank people in advance for their patience and understanding. In most places there are convenient detours. In a few places there are not. But we have found that as long as people know what is going on, they are glad to make a temporary sacrifice because they know the end result will be a safer rail system and smoother crossings.”
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 11:34 AM 
