City celebrates completion of railroad crossing projects

By Toni Miles

City officials and project leaders joined up to snip the ribbon at the September 12 ribbon cutting ceremony.

Friday, September 12, marked a milestone in the Railroad Crossing Grade Improvement Project, as the last of the City of Long Beach’s nine-designated crossings opened once again to travel by the public.

To mark this achievement, the City of Long Beach held a ribbon cutting at that intersection, the crossing at Cleveland Avenue and Railroad Street, before the intersection opened back up for travel after lunchtime that day.

Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce addresses the crowd at the September 12 ribbon cutting celebrating (at press time) the near-completion of the $3.3 million Rail Crossing Grade Improvement Project.

Long Beach Mayor Tim Pierce took to the podium at the event, announcing the near-completion of the project on September 12. After initial remarks, the Mayor was joined by other City officials and project leaders for the official ribbon cutting at the ninth and final crossing to get improvements and safety enhancements. Now, at press time, only a few final touches – like striping – remain to be done to finish out the pilot project.

“For too long, our residents have experienced difficulties and safety risks at these crossings,” said Pierce. “With these upgrades, we are creating safer, smoother and more efficient travel through our city.”

Road Closed and Detour signs were commonplace throughout the summer at the City’s designated railroad crossings slated for upgrades.

Road Closed and Detour signs were commonplace throughout the summer at the City’s designated railroad crossings slated for $3.3 million in upgrades to make travel smoother and safer. Through the pilot program with the City of Long Beach, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and CSX, nine of the City’s railroad crossings will not only be safer for all vehicles, especially big rigs, eighteen-wheelers and trucks with trailers that cross over them, but traffic flow throughout the city is expected to flow more smoothly, as well.

Joining Pierce at the celebration were representatives from MDOT, Neel-Schaffer, Moran Hauling and Southern District Transportation Commissioner Charles Busby’s office.

The project was made possible through 100-percent safety funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA), provided by a grant from MDOT. Preliminary engineering, construction engineering, and inspection were led by Neel-Schaffer, Inc. of Biloxi, with construction carried out by Moran Hauling, Inc. of Gulfport.

Long Beach was selected, and is serving, as the state’s first site to improve grades at railroad crossings at cities throughout Mississippi. This, after the City of Long Beach applied back in 2017 for a grant through MDOT to improve railroad crossings.

In all, these nine crossings will now have improved gradings complete with grass installations, and smooth, black asphalt leading up to, and away from, each railroad crossing.