(The following article by Larry Sandler was posted on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website on May 9.)
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Rural areas and small towns dominate the latest list of Wisconsin’s most dangerous railroad crossings.
That’s not an accident, says the state’s crossing safety chief.
During his nine years in office, state Railroad Commissioner Rodney Kreunen said, his agency has spent $20 million to $25 million in state and federal money to improve crossing safety in southeastern Wisconsin, focusing on the most heavily used tracks between Fond du Lac and the Illinois state line.
As a result, Kreunen noted, none of the 15 crossings with three or more accidents in the past five years is in Waukesha, Washington, Racine or Kenosha counties, all areas of rapidly increasing development. By contrast, four Waukesha County crossings and three Milwaukee crossings were on Kreunen’s 1998 hazard list, which counted 25 crossings with four or more accidents in the previous eight years.
This time, the only Milwaukee-area crossing on the list is on the city’s south side, where the Union Pacific tracks cross W. Morgan Ave. Kreunen noted that crossing is near several taverns, and all three of the accidents there occurred in the early morning hours, around the time the bars were closing.
Those accidents – two in 2002 and one in 2001 – injured a total of four people, according to Federal Railroad Administration reports. Kreunen has ordered that gates be installed at that crossing, along with cantilevered flashing lights to increase visibility at night.
The Fox Valley was another region that benefited from major investments in crossing safety. In 1998, the Fox Valley was home to 10 of the state’s most hazardous crossings.
On the new list, only one Fox Valley crossing appears, in Appleton, where Ballard Road meets the Canadian National tracks. It was the site of two accidents in 2000 and one in 2002, but none since gates were installed in 2003.
The largest concentration of dangerous crossings now is in the Marshfield area. Four Canadian National crossings in that area are on the list, two with four accidents each and two with three accidents each.
Kreunen said new gates have been installed at two of those crossings and ordered for the other two. A planned reconstruction of state Highway 13 also will include additional crossing improvements for two of the crossings, he said.
The Canadian National main line, from Marshfield to Owen, will be the next area where Kreunen’s office focuses on improving crossing safety, followed by the stretch from Owen to Superior, he said.
That line, known as the “iron Interstate,” has grown from four to six trains, operating at 15 to 35 mph, in 1986 to 30 trains running at 50 to 60 mph today, Kreunen said. At the same time, housing development has increased around Marshfield, boosting traffic at crossings and increasing the chances for collisions, he said.
In addition to the Marshfield-area crossings, three other Canadian National crossings had four accidents each from 2000 through 2004: one in Waupaca; one in rural Shawano County; and one in rural Washburn County. Kreunen has ordered gates or flashing lights be installed at all of them.