SOUTH BEND — A reprieve could be on the way for the thousands of motorists who travel Lincoln Way East through Osceola every day and are often stymied by trains — sometimes stopped trains — at intersecting Ash, Apple and Beech roads and Chestnut Street.
A study that could bring an overpass or underpass to the town to improve train crossing safety is being done.
The St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission is hiring Abonmarche Consultants at a cost of $72,000 for a "hazard elimination and mobility study" to look at Ash Road/Lincoln Way East traffic and the seven at-grade railroad crossings in between Capital Avenue and Indiana 19 in Elkhart County.
Rough going:Motorists perturbed by bumpy railroad crossing
The study is being paid for by the recent influx of infrastructure money from federal sources. And, recent changes in the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program and others focusing on rail safety could be tapped for such improvements, officials say.
Osceola — sitting just west of Elkhart's Robert Young rail yards — has for decades borne the brunt of train traffic that often stops west of the rail yard, blocking motorists from crossings at Ash, Apple and Beech roads and Chestnut Street.
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