Blackfoot weighs railroad options

The City of Blackfoot is considering a contract with an engineering firm to address its railroad crossing issues.

This year the city applied for a Tiger grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation to build an over – or underpass. That construction would help traffic through the city and allow cross-track access for emergency vehicles, if intersections are blocked by stopped trains. Mayor Paul Loomis said unfortunately the grant was awarded to another community

“We do plan to apply again in the out years and see how well that goes,” said Loomis. “We are not letting this go; this has been an issue for 30 years.”

Tuesday, Loomis met with JUB Engineering, Inc. to weigh more immediate options.

“When the train is blocking the crossings, it’s not necessarily blocking all of them,” said project manager Mike Arneson. “So is there technology out there that will allow cars that are blocked to say ‘Oh wait there is an opening at a different street’ and they can progress down to that street and cross safely?”

Arneson said there are three forms of monitoring that could be transmitted to emergency responders and other drivers.

“You have to have a control system that would talk to the railroad,” she said. “You can do that by tapping into the railroad’s dispatch. Another way is we can acoustically detect sound to know that they’re there. We can also use video detection that can actually have cameras that watch the tracks and then know if a train is sitting on the tracks and blocking it.”

JUB Engineering also proposed signage a major crossings to notify drivers of alternative cross sections that aren’t blocked.

Loomis said these are just a few options, but his main focus is on easy access for emergency vehicles. He said if a substation will prove more cost effective and viable for emergency responders, the city would choose to go in that direction instead.

The city has not signed a contract with JUB Engineering as they consider costs and other negotiations.