Construction work on the new Norfolk Southern railroad crossing near the American Foods Group plant in Foristell MO is open.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
A new railroad crossing is open near the American Foods Group plant in Warren County.
Heartland Drive officially opened to traffic Feb. 15. It is accessible via Veterans Memorial Parkway and replaces the crossing at Archer Road.
The new crossing includes stop arms and warning lights, something neither the Archer Road crossing nor the private crossing to the east had.
Three serious accidents had occurred at those two crossings since December 2022, including one fatal.
The first accident occurred at 10 a.m. Dec. 31, 2022, when a train struck a dump truck trying to cross the tracks. There were no serious injuries, but the crash did cause the truck to roll onto its side.
The second was a fatal accident that occurred just before noon April 23 when a train struck a pickup truck, killing its 80-year-old driver.
A third accident occurred June 30 at the tracks immediately to the east of the Archer Road crossing, seriously injuring the driver of a tractor-trailer.
Since the accidents, the private crossing east of Archer Road had used flaggers to help prevent further accidents.
Now that the new Heartland Drive work is complete, the next step of the project is to remove the Archer Road crossing.
Concrete barricades currently block drivers from using that crossing, and will be permanently removed later this month.
MoDOT approved a $1.1 million contract in September for the work, which also included the widening and addition of a turn lane to Veterans Memorial Parkway.
About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com
