(The following story by Don Behm appeared on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel website on May 27.)
ADDISON, Wisc. — State rail safety officials have ordered Wisconsin Central Ltd. to install gates and automatic flashing lights at its crossing with Hillcrest Drive, south of the unincorporated community of Allenton.
A flashing light also must be placed no later than December 2005 at the crossing facing the southbound lane of Weis St., which parallels the tracks between Hillcrest and Highway 33, the state Office of the Commissioner of Railroads said in the order issued this week.
The additional light will warn motorists southbound on Weis of approaching trains before they turn their vehicles onto Hillcrest immediately east of the tracks, said Tom Running, a rail safety analyst with the office in Madison.
A combination of federal and state grants will pay the full $145,000 estimated cost of all lights and gates, Running said Thursday.
More than 30 trains each day cross the rural road at speeds of up to 60 mph, Running said in explaining the need for the additional safety measures.
The crossing, south of an elementary school on Weis, is used by school buses and semitrailer trucks delivering materials to local businesses. Currently, it is equipped only with a stop sign and train crossing sign in each direction on Hillcrest.
Four train-vehicle collisions have been reported at the crossing since 1973, the most recent in 1996.
It is one of 20 crossings in Washington and Ozaukee counties considered to be unsafe because of either increasing numbers of trains or vehicle traffic.
Canadian National bought Wisconsin Central in 2001 and has steadily increased the number of trains using the tracks as part of its North American network connecting Vancouver, British Columbia, to New Orleans.
In response to the daily frequency of trains on the line, the commissioner’s office had studied closing Hillcrest Drive at the tracks, Running said.
The closing was rejected in favor of new safety measures after local officials urged the office to keep the road open, he said.
The Allenton Fire Department is west of the tracks, and it would be impossible for firefighters to reach the east side of the community in an emergency if Highway 33 was blocked and Hillcrest Drive was not available, Addison Town Chairman Bob Bingen said.
In addition, all traffic now using Hillcrest to reach Highway W would have to be rerouted onto Weis past the school and residences, Bingen said.
“It could have been a congestion problem if we would have had to funnel all of that traffic onto Weis St.,” he said. “There’s already congestion on Weis St. and Highway 33 when trains go through. I’m happy that intersection will stay open.”