Western Railroad Discussion > Railroad Work Closes Road in Northern El Paso County CO

Bummer. I never realize that there was only one way in/out to those homes. Probably not a lot of traffic Friday on the joint line either.
From the KRDO website:
http://www.krdo.com/global/story.asp?s=10958475

By Stephanie Wurtz
s.wurtz@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS - People living in one part of northern El Paso County may find themselves trapped later this week. Union Pacific Railroad work will shutdown the only road in and out of one Monument neighborhood Friday.

There's a sign on Baptist Road west of I-25 alerting people to the road closure from 8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. Friday. Roadwork is nothing new for people in the area.

But the issue this time: there's no detour and no other way for people to get to homes on the other side of the railroad tracks. Going over the railroad tracks is the way in and out and people living there like it that way.

"You don't get a lot of heavy traffic through here and the kids with the [loud] cars and so on," says Cole Colter. Colter's lived in the area 15 years and says about 140 homes will be cut off during the rail work.

"It's not an El Paso County project, it's not a road project at all," says Dave Rose with El Paso County, "it's strictly work on the railway." A spokesman working traffic safety for the project says crews will tear up all the concrete and the rock underneath the railroad crossing and completely replace it.

It's a process that has to be done every two to three years. Crews will work to make there as smooth as possible to prevent derailments, especially going around a curve to the south of the crossing.

The spokesman says if a train derailed there, they'd have to shut the crossing for repairs for two weeks. "We'd be in real trouble," Colter says if a train derailed. There will be access for emergency vehicles during construction and a railroad technician to walk people across the tracks if they drive down and can be picked up.

"We have to plan around it," Colter says. He plans to stay at his daughter's house in another part of Monument Friday. El Paso County says there is a good chance the work will be done and the road back open before 5:00 p.m. Friday.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/09 15:08 by grande_fan.