Circleville and the Ohio Railroad Commission want to cut the number of railroad crossings to improve safety and ease congestion in the area.
The city is considering closing 25 percent of the crossing since more than 35 trains pass through the 18 crossings in Circleville.
With that many trains and crossings, resident Jerry Eckart said the wait sometimes to get across the tracks can be a long one.
“The trains have 60 cars sometimes so it’s not a short train,” he said. “Sometimes it gets really bad.”
Circleville’s Public Service Director John Ankrom said in the past three years there have been nearly 20 accidents at the crossings with seven involving trains.
“There are a number of place in our community where our local citizens are pretty creative and they can avoid a train by taking an alternate path when they see one coming,” he said. “That creates a safety issue as well when they try to run and beat a train.”
He adds that these are the types of issues the city wants to avoid and why the commission gave the idea of which crossings to close.
The idea is still in the early stages as Nortfolk-Southern and the city must review the proposal before it’s opened for public comment.
