A rail-replacement and crossing-repair project along the Louisville & Indiana Railroad line will disrupt about 50 households on Dawson Street south of Columbus today and Saturday.
Crews from the R.J. Corman Railroad Group of Nicholasville, Kentucky, will be closing access to the rail crossing at Dawson Street and State Road 11/Jonesville Road between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. today and again on Saturday, said Andrea Janka, spokeswoman for Safety Services & Supply Inc. of Lima, Ohio, which is handling traffic and public-safety aspects of the project.
The crossing work, which Janka said would take a couple of hours each day, becomes an inconvenience for residents on Dawson Street, which has just one access area — State Road 11. The neighborhood backs up to Denois Creek to the west.
In an emergency, however, the rail workers do have metal plates that can be placed over the rail lines for residents or first-responders to use to get in or out of the neighborhood, she said.
Workers will be able to make accommodations for Dawson Street residents, Janka said.
“I’m sure they’ll let them through,” she said.
Crossing work will be done on one side of the rail today, and the other side Saturday, Janka said.
Despite the inconvenience to residents, “We do have to fix this rail,” she said.
The Louisville & Indiana Railroad and CSX Railroad are upgrading all rail line between Seymour and Indianapolis. Work in Bartholomew County began the weekend of April 22 and was expected to affect crossings in the city of Columbus by late May or early June.
