Opp Mayor: City to fix railroad crossings
Published 12:03 am Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Opp City Council officials said good news is in store for the tattered railroad crossings downtown at Monday night’s meeting.
Opp Mayor H.D. Edgar told the council that they were awaiting an official “OK” from the railroad company for the city to move forward in making the crossings more easily accessible for automobiles.
“We hope to start tearing them out soon,” he said. “We’re going to start at College Street. I know it’s a long drawn out process, but College Street seems to be one of the worst.”
Edgar said the repairs are strictly a burden on the city, and that city workers may be able to do all of the work without having to hire a contractor.
“I know people have been waiting for this a long time,” he said. “But we’ve been waiting on the railroad. This is their property, so we have to get their OK before we can do anything. We should have that this week.”
The city must have approval due to a federal issue where trespassers would be subject to a $10,000 fine per individual.
This is just the latest in a series of improvements that have cleaned up Opp’s downtown area and removed abandoned rail cars.
Trains haven’t made their way through downtown Opp since about 2000, officials said previously.