Rosedale drivers will keep getting railroaded
| Tuesday, Aug 23 2011 10:30 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Aug 23 2011 10:30 PM
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We are on the cusp of spending millions of dollars to get more cars up and down Rosedale Highway more quickly.
To which I say, great. About time!
One little problem -- the Landco Spur.
Yes, I'm still griping about that train crossing where the San Joaquin Valley Railroad occasionally moves trains sloooooooooowly back and forth, stalling Rosedale traffic sometimes for a mile on either side of the tracks.
So, I gotta wonder, when we have even more cars on Rosedale after it's widened from four to six lanes from Highway 99 to Allen Road, how much of a problem will that train crossing be?
Uhhhh....bigger, would be my guess.
Just to catch you up, the Greater Bakersfield Separation of Grade District tried to get funding for an overpass from California Public Utilities Commission. But, again, this year, it was stuck at the bottom of the list, 65th out of 87 in the state.
And don't hold your breath that we'll move up quickly. Only four separation of grade projects got funding from that list over a two year cycle, said Ron Ruettgers, an engineer with the Separation of Grade District.
The problem is there isn't as great a volume of trains across the Landco Spur and we're not having enough accidents, compared to other rail crossings.
"We got zero points out of Landco for accidents," Ruettgers said.
That seems a bit backwards to me. Shouldn't we take care of a heavily traveled crossing that we all know is about to be even more heavily traveled BEFORE it costs life and limb?
Sorry, I was apparently channeling "forward thinking" in a story about government.
Even if Landco suddenly rocketed to the No. 1 priority position, the funding isn't much. The PUC gives a max of $5 million per project and estimates are that an overpass across the Landco Spur would be about $20 million.
Ugh.
Ted Wright, director of the Thomas Roads Improvement Program (TRIP), and ever the optimist, felt differently.
With the Mohawk connection between Rosedale and Truxtun Avenue done and more projects nearing completion all the time, congestion won't be nearly as bad on Rosedale overall, he said. Plus, when a train stymies traffic, motorists will have more avenues around it.
That's a cheery outlook but naive in my view. As a recent reader pointed out, the Mohawk extension mostly adds to Rosedale's traffic.
Besides, motorists can't maneuver around the train if they don't KNOW there's a train a' comin'.
Which got me thinking (scary, I know).
Perhaps the San Joaquin Valley Railroad dispatch folks could call (text, email, something) City of Bakersfield traffic people an hour or so before a train will be on the tracks, give them an ETA and time they expect to tie up the road.
The City could then send out alerts to people who've signed up for them, much as they do now through the TRIP website for road construction around town.
Wright agreed we have the technology but wasn't sure what the railroad's attitude was.
Not helpful.
San Joaquin's marketing director Dave Siegel told me freight train traffic is unpredictable. He said that on some days that crossing would see one train, another day 12. Some days it would take 10 minutes to switch cars, other days longer.
He didn't think my idea was bad, per se. But he wasn't in a position to say whether the railroad could participate in an early-alert program.
So I called and emailed San Joaquin Valley's owner, Rail America in Jacksonville, Florida.
If their response, or lack thereof, is any indication of how well they'd do at this train alert scheme of mine, I'm giving them a big, fat "F."
It looks like those of us stuck traveling Rosedale Highway can expect a wider road after 2014, but the same old wait at the Landco Spur -- long and tedious.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at http://www.bakersfield.com, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
