(The following story by Mike Cummings appeared on the Sun Herald website on January 29.)
GULFPORT, Miss. — Percy McClendon is tired of helping motorists stranded on the damaged railroad crossing near his house.
He said a stranger knocked on his door at 11:30 Monday night. The man had tried to use the Pratt Avenue crossing and gotten his car stuck. The asphalt on both sides of the crossing is torn apart.
McClendon used his truck to pull the man’s car off the tracks. He said a train roared through the crossing about two minutes later.
It was the third time in as many months that McClendon has pulled a stranded car off the tracks, he said.
Kris Riemann, Gulfport director of public works, said the crossing has been out of service at least six months.
Riemann said CSX last contacted him in October about the damaged crossing. He said he did not know what was delaying the repairs.
Phone calls Wednesday to the railroad’s corporate headquarters and regional offices were not returned. Calls to its local roadmaster’s office were not answered.
CSX blocked the crossing on both sides with sawhorse-style barricades. Three railroad ties were strewn about on the south side of the crossing, further obstructing it.
The obstacles have not stopped motorists from using the crossing. McClendon believes it is only a matter of time before somebody is killed.
He addressed the City Council about the issue this week.
“I think of others before I think of myself,” he said. “I also don’t like having unexpected visitors.”
Councilman Richard Rose, who represents McClendon’s neighborhood, said the crossing must be fixed.
“I don’t know what we can do to get CSX to fix it,” he said. “If somebody tries to go across the tracks there, they are clearly not using all of their senses,” he said.
The city placed more barricades at the crossing Wednesday afternoon.