CSX Transportation and the Mississippi Department of Transportation are suggesting that eight railroad crossings in Biloxi, Mississippi, be closed as part of a Coastwide plan to reduce or prevent vehicle-train collisions.

In a tragic coincidence, they brought their request to the Biloxi City Council the day after a 29-year-old man was killed when he drove in front of a train at the Hopkins Boulevard crossing, which is not on the closing list.

Jeff Luthi, a project engineer for CSXT, said the railroad corridor through Harrison County is the third deadliest of any county in the United States. Only metropolitan areas like Chicago rank higher, he said.

The street crossings suggested for closing are Delauney, Holley, Nixon, Seal, Iroquois, Querens, McDonnell and possibly Benachi.

In exchange for the closings, the city would get safety lighting and crossing guards at the remaining crossings. CSX would pay 70 percent of the cost and MDOT would pick up the other 30 percent.

City officials said they want to improve safety, but do not want the closings to create elongated, dead-end streets. The railroad has offered to allow the city an easement to extend Esposito Street on the north side of the tracks to keep the streets open-ended.
The closings of the crossings would be staggered over a three- to five-year period, Luthi said.

The Gulfport City Council earlier this month approved closing 12 crossings.