Downtown RR crossings move ahead

A freight train blasts its horn Monday as it barrels through the Third Street crossing in downtown Gallup. The high number of trains and the volume of vehicles using the crossing each day has officials looking into the possibility of creating a traffic underpass or other alternative crossing solution. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Area residents could see underpasses or overpasses along the railroad track through Gallup as early as 2011, according to city officials.

The city has been looking for the past year at developing an overpass at Allison Crossing and an underpass in the downtown area now for the past year and officials had originally been saying that either project would be several years to a decade down the road.

But Stan Henderson, director of public works for the city, said recently that the projects could become a reality in as soon as four years.

This is good for the city, since former City Manager Eric Honeyfield predicted that with the increase of traffic on the railroad from China in the next few years, the amount of time that the crossings will be closed will go from the present level of just under 50 percent to as high as 75 percent.

“When that happens,” he said, “the city might just as well close down the crossings for good.”

But creating a way for traffic to get from the south to the north side and vica versa without worrying about the trains would resolve that problem as well as eliminate the deaths that occur each year from training running over persons trying to beat the trains or go through them when they are stopped.

The two projects are now taking different paths to development and both are in their initial stages.

The state is preparing to issue a request for proposals for an engineering design for the Allison Crossing project, Henderson said.

This is being paid for by the state and just a few months ago, the city was planning to put its efforts solely behind that project and wait for this one to get under way before tackling the downtown project.

The reason, said Henderson, was that city officials weren’t sure that an underpass at either Second or Third Streets would work because of the possibility of flooding if it rained.

But a feasibility study done earlier this year showed that the project was doable if the city added another pumping station.

As for the downtown project, that’s proceeding also along the same pathway as the Allison Crossing project, but by the combined resources of the state, the city and the

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, each of which has agreed to pay about $40,000 for the engineering and design study.

If everything goes as scheduled, the studies will be completed next year and the city will spend the following year on raising the funds from the state and the federal government to pay for the two projects, both of which are expected to cost several million dollars.