The
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC) Webster County Highway
Maintenance Crew has been on the attack for about the last year, taking
out abandoned rail crossings along
rural highways.
In
the last few months they have taken out several rail crossings in the
Providence area. Today, they pulled old tracks and ties out of a
crossing on Ky. 143 in Webster County.
The crossing, once part of the old Tradewater Railway and earlier part
of an Illinois Central Railroad Line that served coal mines and
industries through Webster and Crittenden counties, was abandoned in
about 1996.
When
a salvage company took up the tracks and ties for recycling, they left
the old rail crossings intact to avoid having to re-pave the roadways
the tracks crossed. The Webster
County Highway Crew has been systematically pulling out the old rail
crossings. They’ve pulled four or five such crossings in about the last year
and have plans to remove one more. The last crossing along Ky. 2837 in
Webster County will likely be removed in a few
weeks as maintenance schedules allow.
The
crossings are filled back in with temporary asphalt. Traffic will be
allowed to run on the area for a few months so the new base and pavement
can settle. A paving crew
will then come back and add a finish coat of asphalt to fully restore
the roadway. A couple of the old rail crossings were removed in areas
where paving projects are scheduled this summer.
While
most of the highways were scheduled for a full day closure, KyTC
Webster County Superintendent Chris Martin says his crew has been able
to pull most of the crossings
in less time than that. The crossing they pulled today along Ky.
143/Diamond-Fishtrap Road at mile-point 0.48 just west of Ky. 109 near
the Blackford community was completed and reopened to traffic around noon.
One
little known quirk of Kentucky law, in places where the railroad was
there first, the crossing generally belongs to the railroad. In areas
where the state highway was
there first, and a rail line was built across it, the crossing
generally belongs to the Transportation Cabinet. The Transportation
Cabinet and the railroads work in a cooperative effort to keep rail
crossings in good repair. Once a rail line is officially
listed as abandoned, highway crews can remove the crossing.
