Albany City Commission grapples with request to close Seventh Avenue railroad crossing

ALBANY — Some Albany City Commission members expressed their suspicion on Tuesday that Norfolk Southern Railroad has not been working on the railroad all the live-live long day after the company’s notification of a temporary closure of a crossing turned into a request for permanent closure.

The city was notified in April that the company would close the Seventh Avenue railroad crossing to repair railroad tracks.

At the time, Norfolk Southern indicated the work “wouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks,” Assistant City Manager Bruce Maples told commissioners during a public hearing on the topic held during the commission’s Tuesday work session.

“In May (they) initiated discussion of a permanent closure,” Maples said.

In October, Norfolk Southern petitioned to have the crossing permanently closed. That notification set the clock ticking, with the city having 90 days to hold a public hearing and respond to the petition.

Company representative Curtis Leon Jackson said that traffic patterns were behind the petition and that the reason behind that request is safety. The reason for the temporary closure was to perform maintenance, he said.

“It seems like the notification in April was a pretext to close the crossing,” Mayor Bo Dorough said. “Hopefully, they did do some kind of repair, or it’s been duplicitous from day one.”

Among those speaking out against the closure was Rusty Lane with A-1 Wrecker Service, which has been located at 213 Seventh Avenue for more than 30 years.

Several businesses in the area use the crossing for traffic heading south from the area, he said.

“You’re going to be effectively removing a driveway for every business on North Washington,” he said. “You have businesses back there, and you need to look at this again. It needs to stay open.”

Oxford Construction Co. President Bruce Melton said that the closure also would be a safety issue, as it would take longer for ambulances to reach the area in the event of an emergency.

“We have 57 employees,” he said. “If something were to happen and you can’t access it, you have to go all the way up to Jefferson and make a loop.

“It’s a big inconvenience for us, and we would oppose the closing for this.”

Norfolk Southern requested the closing of the Third Avenue and Seventh Avenue crossings in 2018. The city denied the request and ultimately the Georgia Department of Transportation granted an appeal that required the closing at Third Avenue.

At that time, the railroad did not pursue an appeal at Seventh Avenue.

Basically, the city has three options, Maples told commissioners: to grant the request, deny it or work with the company to provide an option for access from east of the tracks to the west. The railway has indicated it could provide some financial assistance for the third option.

The company approved the crossing in 1954 at the request of the city, Maples said. It is still listed as open by the federal government. If the city denies the request, Norfolk Southern would be required to re-open the crossing to allow the DOT to perform an assessment.

“This is pretty typical of what Norfolk Southern has done in the past: perform maintenance and then request closure,” Maples said. “If you deny the petition, it would go back to them and they would have to go to the DOT. They’ll have to put the crossing back in place. They they’re going to come out at some point and make their assessment and their (recommendation.)”

The last accident at the intersection occurred in 2019 and did not involve a train, the assistant city manager said. There have been a total of 13 crashes at the location since the late 1970s.

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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