Several disagreements came up Tuesday at an outside meeting near McDonald’s in Oil City that focused on plans to replace the Elm and Center Street railroad crossings later this year.
The projects had previously both been planned for July, with the Elm Street crossing slotted for the second week of the month and the Center Street crossing planned near the end of July.
However, Tuesday’s meeting that included Oil City officials and representatives from the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad Corp., the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) threw a wrench in those plans.
Andy Reed, a civil engineering consultant the PUC, said that with the time it takes to find materials and workers, he doesn’t expect work to begin until August or September.
What’s more, understanding of what the project entails appeared to differ, especially in regard to the McDonald’s drive through exit, which crosses the railroad tracks and turns right onto Elm Street.
Workers with the railroad company announced plans to put up a permanent barrier, preventing traffic from utilizing the exit entirely.
This faced immediate pushback from city officials.
“It hasn’t been an issue for 30 years, now, within 10 minutes, it is suddenly an issue,” City Manager Mark Schroyer said.
“The big concern they have at Elm right now is people leaving the parking lot of McDonald’s and entering into upcoming train traffic,” Reed said, adding that the railroad company had reported a few recent close calls.
“In my 30 years, we’ve had one person get hit by a train,” countered Oil City Police Chief Dave Ragon, who added that the individual wasn’t even in the vehicle at the time.
Oil City Fire Chief Derek Long also said the small road is frequently used by first responders as a way to get around trains in order to access the Oil City heights in case of emergency.
Reed, who was mostly acting as a mediator to help all parties involved come to an agreement, started throwing around ideas to help compromise.
One option that got some traction was the installation of flexible delineators, which would form a physical barrier that could be driven through, discouraging general traffic but still allowing access for emergency vehicles.
There was still serious disagreement between parties even on this option.
McDonald’s representatives also chimed in as part of the potential barrier would likely end up on the McDonald’s property if it was installed.
A McDonald’s manager said he would need to talk to the location’s owner but advised that he doubted the owner would be open to the idea as the restriction would cut into parking space.
Robby Heasel, a designer with Diamondback Signal LLC, put forward the possibility that some of the space on the old track behind McDonald’s — which they said is likely to be removed within a two-year period as it is no longer used — could potentially be allotted to McDonald’s for more parking.
With this option being at least two years out however, Reed advised that this portion of the project be delayed.
The cement being replaced at the crossing is still planned to be done as soon as preparations are complete this year.
Reed said the crossing replacement projects would each take about a week to finish once workers and materials are sorted out.
While they aren’t expecting any major obstacles in the process, the logistics surrounding the simultaneous closure of the Veterans Bridge did cause some concern.
Ragon said the current plan, as he understands it, is to open Seneca and Elm streets to two way traffic, allowing areas in parking lots for cars to turn around.
An additional part of the project is the replacement of lights and other equipment at Duncomb, Center and Sycamore streets.
Heasel said the plan is to delay the Sycamore and Center parts of the project until the old portion of rail behind McDonald’s has hopefully been removed.
With things seeming to be agreed upon, Reed said the next step is for him to put forward his proposal.
As long as all parties involved were in agreement with the proposal, Reed said the projects would move forward this year.
