By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | The City of Norcross may get a gift from Google next year.
It won’t be something to unwrap, but it could help solve a major problem in the city.
You see, the most dangerous railroad crossing in Gwinnett is in the middle of Norcross, the Holcomb Bridge Road crossing of the Norfolk-Southern rail tracks. The big problem is that the roadbed takes a big dip downward on the westward side.
As a result, 18 wheeler tractor-trailers find that their back wheels of the truck dip down, causing the long trailer to get caught on the rail tracks. And once wedged, it takes lots of time to unstick the trailer from the tracks.
And in the meantime, about 20 Norfolk-Southern trains barrel down the rails each day. When a trailer gets stuck on the crossing, on some occasions, the Norcross Police can warn Norfolk-Southern officials of the problem, and halt trains before they approach the crossing. But other instances, there is no time for warnings, the first thing the engineer of a train knows there’s a trailer on the tracks is as he approaches the crossing. The last time this happened, it took the engine 1.1 miles to come to a halt. Meanwhile, the trailer was rammed off the track, and its contents strewn down the rails.
What Google announced is that it will add audio and visual alerts to warn drivers about upcoming rail crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration said Monday. Not only that, but four other companies with GSP map services, Apple, Garmin, Tom Tom and AOL’s MapQuest, are being asked to join a similar map partnership using the agency’s data to pinpoint the crossings.
After all, if Google can show the photograph of virtually every house in the USA, why not pinpoint the problems at rail crossings. Only 15.5 percent of the 250,711 rail crossings in the U.S. are grade-separated, meaning they have bridges or underpasses to keep motor vehicles and trains apart. That leaves 231,104 rail crossings with no safety devices except perhaps crossing gates. Of course, this can cause great dangers. There were 270 people killed at such crossings last year.
The problem in Norcross isn’t gates…..there are crossing gates there. It’s the sharp decline in the roadbed going westward that causes the trailer to hang up on the rails. There is insufficient clearance for the trailer.
Therefore, the City has multiple warning signs in each direction to the crossing. The problem is that big haul drivers are concentrating on the map on their GPS, and don’t pay attention to the signs. So it is a surprise to them when suddenly, their trailer is caught on the tracks.
Though this has been a problem for years, Norcross officials are moving –ever so slowly—to solve the problem. The Council has secured funding for improvements for early 2017. The solution is to eliminate the dip by raising the roadbed on the west side of the tracks. It must also raise the roadbed of Thrasher Street parallel to the tracks on the west side.
This will mean that the two homes on Thrasher Street nearest the intersection will be below the roadbeds. Councilman David McElroy is one of those residents, and therefore, cannot participate on the Council vote.
The Council hasn’t voted to make the improvement yet…..pending additional information.
Waiting could cause another trailer-train wreck, or take another life. The Norcross Council has the solution, and the money to do it. Waiting is useless. The Council should act speedily.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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