Landis OKs Closing Of Railroad Crossing To Keep State Funding Alive

BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

LANDIS - Claiming a small victory, aldermen begrudgingly approved an agreement with the state Monday to close one of its four railroad crossings.

The board agreed unanimously to close the Round Street crossing rather than risk losing funding for safety improvements at other crossings and the possibility of a state-built overpass at Rice Street, which now dead ends on either side of the track.

"I personally feel that if we don't sign this, they're gone - no safety improvements and no overpass," Alderman Gary Beaver said.

By closing the Round Street crossing, the least-used in town, the town also kept alive its Mill Street crossing, the second-most-used crossing in town.

Alderman William Beaver said if the town must close a crossing, "that's the best one."

"It's not as bad as Kannapolis, eh?" he added. "They closed everything down down there."

The state originally wanted to close the Mill Street crossing within two years and two other crossings after an overpass is built at Kimball Road between China Grove and Landis. The Landis board refused to sign the agreement. Mill Street is maintained by Landis, and the state needs town approval to close the crossing there.

At the urging of its townsfolk, who showed up by the dozens at last week's public hearing, the Landis board held out and demanded a commitment from the state for an overpass at Rice Street.

Under the new agreement, the state is only required to conduct a feasibility study for an overpass between Rice Street in Landis and East 22nd Street in North Kannapolis. Nevertheless, the board and Mayor Fred Steen apparently felt the new deal was the best they could hope for.

"We stuck by our guns... and I feel like in a good faith effort to the state, we're going to have to go forward a little bit," Steen said.

The agreement also gives town officials leverage to lobby for a Rice Street overpass, which is as needed for pedestrian school traffic as for vehicular traffic, Steen said.

However, board member William Beaver wondered aloud whether the state would eventually build an overpass at Rice Street, or if the feasibility study was merely a lure to secure the town's approval for closing a crossing.

"If we got the overpass, I'd say 'Go,'" he said. "But I don't know how far we can trust these people."

Resident Debbie Roach, who last week argued against any closing without an overpass commitment, said after the meeting the board did the right thing.

"This is as good as they can do with an ultimatum," Roach said. "We have to bend a little bit."

State Rail Division engineer Michael Shumsky manages the effort to close unsafe and "redundant" at-grade crossings between 36th Street in Charlotte and East Liberty Street in China Grove. After the

Landis public hearing last week, Shumsky warned that the state would transfer money planned for improvements in Landis to other projects if the Landis board refused to sign an agreement.

Shumsky said the state study will "concentrate on the Rice Street location" for an overpass. Although he indicated speculation on the eventual location of an overpass would be "premature," Shumsky did agree with the town's argument that the geography at Rice Street seems to lend itself to an overpass.

The fact that the town owns much of the property needed for such a project also could favor Rice Street, Shumsky said.

A financial commitment from the town for an overpass could help, as well, he added.

Shumsky said his department decided to offer the compromise of closing Round Street instead of Mill Street because of the town's "strong desire to do so" and because Police Chief H.F. Jones said the closing could solve additional traffic problems associated with Round Street.

The state also recognized that the two crossings have similar accident rates but large differences in daily use, Shumsky said.

An estimated 2,400 vehicles traverse the tracks at Mill Street every day. Only the state-maintained crossing at Ryder Avenue ferries more traffic across the tracks - an estimated 4,800 per day.

The two remaining crossings at the town's northern and southern ends are the least-used. An estimated 1,800 vehicles cross at Central Avenue Extension in the north and 1,400 cross at Round Street in the south.

In addition to the overpass feasibility study, the state also will:

- Make safety improvements to the Mill Street crossing, then close it once it completes an overpass at a location recommended by the study, possibly Rice Street.

- Rebuild the crossing at Central Avenue and install long-arm gates to keep motorists from trying to beat a train.

- Close the Central Avenue crossing once the Kimball Road overpass is complete.

- Make improvements to the Ryder Avenue approaches, install a rubber crossing surface at the tracks and build median barriers and longer arms.

In other business, the board also approved a resolution to bill companies for false fire alarms, as well as other fire departments for help with routine traffic accidents.

The town will send the resolution to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners and fire marshal for review.

The board also voted to change Valley Street to one way from Rice to Hope streets. The change will require an ordinance revision and public hearing.