O’HARA, Pa. — A heavily-used railroad crossing remained closed Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Norfolk and Southern Railroad officials closed it to traffic, the Herald reported.
But township officials and property owners are forging ahead with two plans to have it reopened.
Township Manager Doug Arndt said the intersection may be open as soon as next week, pending a ruling by the state Public Utility Commission which oversees railroad transportation. O’Hara leaders filed an emergency injunction with the PUC, calling for the crossing to be reopened immediately. The blocked crossing is one of two that leads into Residence of the Docks, an under-construction riverfront community with about 80 residents and the potential for more than 1,000. It also leads to the Fox Chapel Yacht Club and Marine, which houses more than 300 boats.
Township officials said the shutdown is a detriment to residents who are forced to converge on the area’s now-sole access at Fairview Road, which merges with traffic from Route 28.
In correspondence from Norfolk and Southern, railroad public relations director Rudy Husband wrote that having two heavily used crossings within a quarter-mile of each other — neither of which have active warning devices — creates an unnecessary unsafe condition, especially when the estimate of a 700 percent increase in vehicular traffic over the crossing once the apartment complex is fully occupied is factored in.
“From a legal standpoint, the Fox Chapel crossing was a private railroad crossing which, until its closure, was used by hundreds of people without permission and in violation of the original deed,” Husband wrote.
Lichtenfels contends that an 1890’s deed transfers ownership of three railroad crossings to the landowner.
In a separate application to the PUC, filed prior to the closing, township officials called for the state agency to declare the crossing a public access. They want the right to upgrade the crossing with flashing lights and gates, according to Mabon Lichtenfels, regional project manager for Continental Communities, owners of the riverfront development.
Lichtenfels said for three years he has tried to negotiate with railroad officials, and has offered to spend $140,000 on upgrades. Attempts have been futile, he said.
Last Thursday, PUC officials paid a site visit to the railroad crossing to review the area. Representatives from the township, Continental Communities and Norfolk and Southern also attended. Arndt said there is no timeline for a response, but that the visit was one in a series of steps necessary to review the application.
“This issue is whether it a matter of public vs private,” Arndt said. “The PUC has to determine that.”