Warning lights and gates planned

A railroad crossing on Milnor Road that has been the scene of three major accidents in 18 months, the last one killing a Waynesboro man, will get warning lights and gates installed soon, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Commission spokeswoman Cyndi Page said that a joint conference was held at the crossing last Monday, with representatives from the railroad, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Antrim Township, Embarq and the PUC in attendance. Page said that everyone at the meeting agreed that the crossing, which now has only crossbuck warning signs, needed a safety upgrade. When the new safety features are implemented, Page said the crossing will have flashing lights and short-arm gates that will block one lane on each side of the tracks. Page said the new safety features should be in place at the crossing by June 2007.

The safety meeting came after a July 18 accident in which an eastbound vehicle driven by 19year-old Misty Beers of Greencastle was struck on the passenger side by a northbound train. The train dragged the car nearly 1000 feet along the tracks before rolling it down an embankment. Apassenger in Beers' Chevrolet Cavalier, 26-year-old Jessie Hykes, was killed, and Beers suffered severe injuries and had to be flown to York Hospital. She has since been discharged and is improving.

One collision occurred last April and last Nov. 1, a milk truck driven by Keith Lehman, 42, was struck, sending Lehman to the hospital with multiple injuries including a fractured skull and other broken bones.

According to published reports, Antrim Township had asked PennDOT in 1999 and 2005 to consider making improvements to the intersection. According to PennDOT spokesman Mike Crochunis, a PennDOT engineer had recommended using funds from the county's annual federal allotment for rail crossing improvements to upgrade the intersection. According to Crochunis, a letter to the PUC requesting the field conference on July 31 went out before the fatal accident occurred.

Crochunis said upgrading the project will be a joint project, with PennDOT furnishing the funding and Norfolk Southern contracting out the work.

According to Crochunis, the cost of adding lights and crossing gates will run between $165,000 and $200,000. About $75,000 remains in the county's allocation for railroad crossing improvements, he said. In 2007, according to PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny, the county will have $217,000 for railroad crossing upgrades.

Crochunis said increased rail and vehicle traffic may be partly responsible for the accidents. He said 15 to 20 trains traveling at 50 miles per hour cross the intersection daily, and about 500 vehicles drive along Milnor Road every day.