Official: 'No easy solution'
Despite rash of accidents, railroad crossing upgrades not a sure thing
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Steamboat Springs — Three days after the third vehicle-train collision in Steamboat Springs since December, a city official said plans are under way to improve at least one area railroad crossing. But he cautioned that adding safety features to crossings often can involve more than simply installing gates or lights.
Jim Weber, the city's director of public works, said some of Routt County's railroad crossings are privately owned or have mixed public and private use, creating jurisdictional complications that can stall the construction of new or additional safety features.
"There is not an easy solution to the problem," Weber said this week.
But the problem exists.
On Tuesday morning, a Dodge truck driven by 56-year-old Robert Pensack of Steamboat Springs was struck by a northbound train at a crossing at Mount Werner Road and Routt County Road 14. Pensack was taken to Yampa Valley Medical Center with internal and hip injuries. He was released Friday, a hospital official said.
While signal lights were flashing at the crossing, Pensack reportedly told police he didn't see the train "until a fraction of a second before it hit." Colorado State Patrol Trooper Rick Kaspar speculated that Pensack may not have seen the signal lights because of the glare of the morning sun.
There are no automatic gates - also known as "crossbucks" - at that crossing.
Three collisions in Steamboat, plus another west of city limits in June, add up to four vehicle-train collisions in Routt County in less than a year.
Thirty-seven vehicle-train collisions have occurred at Routt County crossings since 1975.
Nine of those collisions - and two last winter - occurred at a crossing on a private road leading to Fish Creek Mobile Home Park, near the Kum & Go gas station off U.S. Highway 40 across from Anglers Drive.
The park contains 70 homes. Local landowner and longtime resident Bob Enever owns the mobile home park and the road that crosses the tracks.
Enever said he is working with Weber and officials from Union Pacific Railroad to improve the crossing with flashing lights, automatic gates or both.
Enever said he has not yet finalized improvement plans or a total cost for the project, but he said he has notified residents of a $20 rent increase to help fund the project.
"I think we still have the lowest rents in that part of town," Enever said this week, adding that he did not raise rent at the park last year and he does not charge residents for sewer or water use.
"We're still involved with discussions with the city and the railroad, so it's not finalized yet," Enever said about the crossing upgrade.
"It takes a long time to do things with both railroads and cities."
Weber acknowledged that because of numerous construction projects around Steamboat - and remaining logistical hurdles with the park's crossing - the upgrade may not happen before snow falls.
"Will we have it done for this winter? Probably not," Weber said.
Comments
tooner 6 years, 8 months ago
Railroaad crossings are dangerouus if you don't; STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN. Why do we instanly blame the intersection, not the person. I see school buses stop at these intersections no matter what the conditions. Maybe we should all do the same.
JazzSlave 6 years, 8 months ago
tooner:
Amen.
Personal responsibility - what a concept...
Tigger 6 years, 8 months ago
uhhhhh......like look both ways...huh...huh...huh...huh..
mtroach 6 years, 8 months ago
The fish creek crossing is one matter, the tree house crossing is another. The county/city should take immediate action to provide the tree house crossing crossing with automatic gates for the safty of drivers. The road crosses at an bad angle, and the brush lineing the tracks, and roadway may prevent some drivers from seeing down the tracks. Furthermore, this crossing see a substantial ammount of traffic, far more that the FC trailer park and is a public road. This change needs to be made ASAP!
But like the jslave stated, personal responsiblity. I can hear the horns from the trains all the way up hilltop, why can't drivers down next to the tracks?
Matthew Stoddard 6 years, 8 months ago
Mtroach- probably can't hear them because people are cranking their car stereos (I can honestly say that I do that, but I at least turn it down for railroad crossings) or they are on their cell phones. I know Doc Pensack as an acquaintence, and if it's early morning, I can understand how the sun can reflect on windshields. I get that going home late afternoons heading to Silver Spur, and it's hard to see at some points. Still, when you've been making the same trip day after day, knowing there's a crossing along your route, it should become second nature to slow down, look, then proceed. I just hope he gets better soon. Doc's already had a major surgery earlier in life.
jack legrice 6 years, 8 months ago
Put the blame where it belongs THE DRIVER. There is no excuse for being hit by a train.
mirimd 6 years, 7 months ago
Interesting how easy it is to make judgements about a person or situation when the facts are not at hand. I'm appalled by the lack of compassion and the various assumptions being made in these posts which seem to place the driver "at fault" without knowing the first thing about the detailed facts of the incident. (Was Dr. Pensack listening to music, loud or otherwise? Was this a route he had taken frequently and therefore ought to have known about the railroad crossing?) Personal responsibility and governmental/ private responsibility for public safety are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, must balance each other for the overall good of society. Regardless of "fault", at this moment, a human life is what is at stake. Thankfully, and miraculously, Dr. Pensack survived the train accident, as did the others involved in similar accidents in the county. For now, we ought to put ourselves in his shoes and in those of his family, and ask ourselves what we might do to help.
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