The railroad crossing at Chavasse Avenue has been the subject of many complaints at the Municipal Building and much cursing by jarred motorists, but two days of work this week should put an end to all the verbiage.
A combined crew of six CSX and five state Department of Transportation workers converged on the site at midday Tuesday. The men completed the work Wednesday morning.
J.R. Register, a CSX section foreman who has been with the railroad for seven years, said his crew would take out the cross ties. Another division does the signal work, so that was not done.
“This is a very busy crossing,” Register said as he stooped to pick up a hubcap lying beside the tracks Tuesday.
The cross arms came down, and a train moved toward Norlina.
Four pedestrians waited for the train to clear the area so they could cross: a couple from Lehman Street, a resident of Flint Hill who was carrying groceries, and a resident of Chavasse. A waste treatment truck coming from Raleigh Road passed three cars and turned down Young Avenue, 18 cars backed up from Chavasse to Raleigh Road, and the number of vehicles could not be counted coming the other way.
All of that was during lunch time.
At least that was the last train of the day, Register said.
The CSX foreman said he has seen worse crossings, but he could not deny the need to fix Chavasse and the J.P. Taylor crossing, which also was repaired this week.
Wednesday morning brought more trucks and more men from CSX and the Transportation Department to the intersections of Young Avenue, Chavasse Avenue and William Street. By 9:30 the action had begun.
The old, rotten ties were piled along the tracks behind Larry’s Service Co., with the promise that a loader was scheduled to pick them up.
Cars moving down William from the downtown area had to head back to Spring Street or continue to Nicholas Street to cross the railroad tracks. That inconvenience was gone by 3:30 p.m., when the asphalt had set up.
If you are used to seeing and feeling the railroad ties at Chavasse, you will not see them anymore. You can glide and slide over the tracks in comfort.
The J.P. Taylor crossing was finished later that afternoon.