published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

AP council tracking railroad crossing

By ED BALDRIDGE

ed.baldridge@newssun.com

AVON PARK -- The Avon Park City Council heard a progress report Monday night about the ongoing sidewalk problem at the CSX railroad crossing on West Pleasant Street.

The east-west sidewalk on that street ends at the train crossing just to the west of the police department. It then picks up again just to the other side of the tracks, but children walking in the early morning hours to school have to travel out into the road to get around the signal, creating another hazard for oncoming traffic in that busy intersection.

The problem was mentioned in the News-Sun Watch on Oct. 22.

In Monday's update, Public Works Coordinator Ted Long informed the council about the costs for just an engineering report on the problem.

"Initial reports are between $6,500 and $16,500 for the engineering report before we can move on to repairs," Long reported at the meeting.

According to Long, the big difference in the engineer cost is the potential installation of a pedestrian crosswalk with signals.

"I would recommend that we look at installing the signals; it would be safer that way," Long said.

"I requested the estimate with the hopes that I could get back to you tonight about this, but as of a few minutes ago, I have not received a fax," he said.

Additionally, council received a letter in their packets from Police Chief Matthew P. Doughney to CSX corporate headquarters informing them of the hazard and requesting their assistance in addressing the problem. Doughney outlines his concerns and notes that the crossing is a "public safety" issue.