Trish Bennett, Editor
CIRCLEVILLE – Local residents will have another couple of rough weeks ahead before work will begin to smooth out the railroad crossing at South Pickaway Street.
John Ankrom, city service director, said the city has been advised by Norfolk Southern that work will begin as soon as its supply of hot mix asphalt becomes available.
“That’s still probably a couple of weeks away,” Ankrom said. “As far as getting those tracks fixed, we’re kind of at their mercy.”
Ankrom said the current state of the tracks is not considered an unusual risk as far as potential vehicle damage, but they are extremely rough.
“There’s a severe hump between the mainline tracks,” Ankrom said. “If you go over that too fast, you’re definitely going to feel it. We’ve got ‘rough road’ signs out as a way of warning people they’re in unusually poor shape.”
Ankrom said he believes the actual repairs should only take a couple of days once work begins and may cause just a minor detour around the area while crews complete the job.
Norfolk Southern crews have been working in the Pickaway Street area, but they advised Monday they were just repairing rails and not yet working on the crossing.
Local residents have been complaining about the rough tracks for a number of weeks, as noted by city council member Sister Monica Justinger when she broached the subject at a council meeting held March 17. At that time, Mayor Don McIlroy reported a meeting was already scheduled with Norfolk Southern for the following week to address that and other issues.
Elsewhere in the city, Ankrom said pothole repairs are going well, and he believes 80 to 90 percent of the problem areas have now been addressed.
“The guys have done a great job of responding to complaints, immediately going out and taking care of them,” Ankrom said. “We’ve got a map, and we’ve been crossing streets off one by one, so we’re in pretty good shape as far as that’s concerned right now.”
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
