Railroad Crossing Grade Improvements Project is getting on track
By Toni Miles
The City of Long Beach’s ongoing efforts to improve the safety of its railroad crossings is now on track under its Railroad Crossing Grade Improvements Project, and additional help is on the way, thanks to Long Beach’s recent designation as a pilot city for the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) project to reduce the number of vehicles getting stuck on railroad tracks, an endeavor that’s been four years in the making.
“This railroad project has been an ongoing project and process since four years ago, when we started out on this and made the connection with MDOT, got Neel-Schaffer Engineering; and this just shows you how slow government moves,” said Long Beach Mayor George Bass. “Bidding just opened. We awarded bids to Moran Hauling to do the new crossovers.”
“What this will involve is the approaches from both sides will be elevated, which means that [on] Railroad Street, you’ll be driving along, and you’ll have an elevation to come up to…allow you to drive over, even if you’re pulling your boat behind you on a trailer,” said Bass.
Railroad crossings throughout South Mississippi have been plagued with safe passage issues for cars, trucks and even buses crossing over them, as evidenced by a deadly incident back in March of 2017 when a tour bus carrying dozens of seniors on board got stuck on a Biloxi railroad crossing, resulting in the death of four senior citizens who were unable to exit before an oncoming train collided with the tour bus.
“There’s always a hazard there where you have a train coming and a truck or some other big vehicle stuck,” Bass said. “They’re unable to stop in time. We can’t give them enough warning. There could even be some materials [hazardous] involved that could potentially affect our community, affect the land itself.”
According to City leaders, all but one of the current railroad crossings in Long Beach still pose safety issues for semi-trucks and other large vehicles, as evidenced by some vehicles getting stuck on the tracks and several accidents on these crossings over the years.
Bass says this project can’t get underway and wrapped soon enough and will ultimately lead to safer conditions for those driving over railroad crossings in the area, although he says some vehicles are better off just avoiding the crossings.
“We’re going to discourage 18-wheelers, but we’re hoping, once this project is done, they will be able to make it across where they won’t get hung up, and that’s a big thing to us,” Bass said.
Work under the Long Beach Railroad Crossing Grade Improvements Project includes earth work, the laying of concrete sidewalks and asphalt pavement, drainage improvements, striping and utility adjustments.
This is the first project of its kind to be initiated by MDOT, and similar plans are underway for Pass Christian and possibly other cities across the Coast. The project is funded through the Federal Highway Administration’s Rail Crossing Safety Program and will be administered by MDOT. Project leaders are still working to get, and award, bids to contractors for the railroad crossing improvements.
The City of Long Beach is providing matching funds, and, on August 6, aldermen awarded the Railroad Crossing Improvements Construction contract to Moran Hauling, Inc., with a total bid of $3,025,047.50.
Now that Moran Hauling has been awarded the bid to work on the project, Bass says if the Railroad Crossing Grade Improvements Project gets under way in the next few weeks, the entire railroad improvement project could be complete within eight to nine months, sometime in late spring or early summer of next year. 
