BILLINGS, Mont. — Meetings are set in Billings and Laurel to discuss a statewide railroad-highway crossing study that could replace crossings with overpasses and underpasses, reports the Billings Gazette.
The Billings meeting is Thursday at the Billings Community Center, 360 N. 23rd St. Billings crossings included in the study are at 27th, 28th and 29th streets and Moore Lane.
The Laurel meeting is Jan 23 at Laurel City Hall, 115 W. First St. The crossing at Fifth Avenue on the west side of Laurel is included in the study.
Both meetings are from 7 to 9 p.m.
The Montana Department of Transportation contracted the “rail-highway grade crossings” study which includes 20 crossings statewide. The name refers to any rail crossings where tracks and streets intersect on the same grade or level.
Residents from communities across the state have raised concerns because some of the rail crossings pose hazards, impede emergency vehicles, create barriers between sections of towns and, as in many Hi-Line communities, cut off all access when a train is rolling through.
Local engineers and state staff will speak at the open house meetings about criteria for changing the crossings by building overpasses or underpasses, said Chuck Strum of Interstate Engineering Inc. in Billings which is conducting the study. The crossings are in Billings, Laurel, Miles City, Wolf Point, Helena, Bozeman, Belgrade, Columbus, Cut Bank, Livingston, Missoula and Shelby.
Although designs haven’t been developed, the open house presentations will include conceptual presentations for changing the crossings, Strum said.
Cost estimates will be included for those types of projects, which Strum said would be “big dollars.”
Although no funding is in place for the grade separations, MDT wanted to have the study completed so it will have a basis for choosing projects if and when money becomes available.
By the end of the study, the state hopes to have the 20 potential projects ranked in order of importance and to have preliminary engineering plans and cost estimates for each project.
For more information about the open houses or to comment, call Strum at 256-1920 or Kris Christensen, a planner for MDT in Helena, at 444-9240.