WARSAW — The traffic on College Street in Warsaw is up to speed once again now that repairs have been completed at the railroad crossing which runs through the center of town.

Vehicles traveling over the old CSX crossing on Business 24, either coming into or leaving town, had been forced to barely crawl through town due to the poor condition of the crossing.

As of Friday, Dec. 18, travel across the tracks had been completed by crews with both the N.C. Department of Transportation and CSX Railroad.

Warsaw mayor Win Batten explained that the town had requested from both DOT and CSX make repairs to the crossing. “College Street or Business 24 is a state maintained road even though it cuts directly through Warsaw. We do not have to maintain the street as it is the state’s responsibility. The crossing is the railroads,” said Batten. He further explained that the town did not get involved other than to make the requestthat work be done.

“Repairs were made at no costs to the town,” the mayor said.

Lin Reynolds, district engineer for DOT, said the total state expense for the project was $8,800.

“The state provided asphalt repairs and did the rerouting of traffic for the repair,” said Reynolds. “The railroad does the track. We are only responsible for the paving and have nothing to do with the actual railroad.

“CSX owns the railroad right of way and we encroach on it with our road. We used about two and half loads of asphalt but several men were required to complete the asphalt work and put up road block and detour at a cost to the local DOT funds of $8,800. CSX is liable for routine maintenance and upkeep of the rails. They jacked up the track so as to put in new ties. They had already completed the work along the track and had left the crossing to last.”

The work began on Wednesday morning, Dec. 16 and was completed by Friday evening of that same week.

“College Street or Business 24 is a state road which the state DOT is responsible for maintaining. The railroad is responsible for the upkeep of the tracks, and we did not feel the town should have to take any of costs for the repairs needed,” Batten explained.

The mayor also indicated that town officials are still in negotiations with CSX regarding crossings the rail company wants to close.

“The railroad wants to close a couple crossings based on safety reasons and traffic count,” Batten said.

George and Plank streets have been discussed and the town may be agreeable to those closures.”

CSX officials, he said, also have mentioned closing the Yancey Street crossing. “The town would not be in favor of its closing as traffic would have to rerouted in an area not suitable for the traffic it would cause.”

The mayor pointed out that the rail company didn’t do “the super fix” as had been discussed, but, he said, the repairs are sufficient since traffic is able to cross at normal speed once again.

“We hope the improvements that have been made will last for some time, but that is yet to be seen.”

To contact Billy Todd, call 910-592-8137 ext. 117 or e-mail sigeneral@myclintonnc.com.