WARSAW — Three railroad crossings in town may see repairs, while three others may be closed. An ongoing project for the town took another step forward Monday, when representatives from North Carolina Department of Transportation, and the CSX Transportation Inc., spoke at the town’s monthly meeting.

Nothing has been decided, but the matter will be looked into by the town manager and the representatives from DOT, and CSX. The goal is to work out a deal whereby the town receives repairs at the least cost as possible.

Crossings at Yancey, George and Plank Streets were offered to be closed, in order to pay for repairs at the crossings at NC Hwy. 24, Bay and Dudley Streets.

Funding for the projects would come from the state and federal governments — along with stipulations, officials say.

Money for repairs can be spent in Warsaw, but with improvements, closing would most likely have to come as part of the deal, said John Dillard, director of State Government Affairs.

Dillard, after the meeting, explained, “The town came to CSX, and said ‘we want you to upgrade some crossing in town because they are bumping people when cars are going over them; they are complaining they are rough crossings. So we (CSX), knowing the relationship we have with DOT, ... asked DOT ‘Hey, can you come with us to Warsaw and let’s see if there is a project we can work on here that would upgrade these crossings and make them smoother?’ Now with that state money, ... crossing closures would have to be part of the deal to access federal funds that we have available.”

Town manager Jason Burrell commented after the meeting on the issue, “Well, there is going to be some give and some take.”

The more money Warsaw wants for repairs, the more they are going to have to keep an open mind, officials stated.

As mentioned earlier, no deals have struck, commissioners only decided to allow Burrell to meet with CSX and DOT to present a plan to the public. As required by law, public hearings would be held.

Burrell added, “what we tried to get accomplished was basically, the repairs of the crossings and the maintenance of the crossings. They said they could asphalt the George Street crossing; they would concrete NC 24 and asphalt the Dudley Street crossing, and basically what they were trying to get at was basically a little give and take, where we would be willing to close a railroad that would be an incentive to them, they would repair the crossings that would be an incentive to the town”

No hearing has yet been scheduled.

Michael Connolly can be reached at (910) 592-8137 ext. 120 or can be emailed at sicity@intrstar.net