ITD removes yield signs at Riverdock rail crossing

by Philip A. Janquart
 The Idaho Transportation Department has taken down yield signs at the rail crossing on Riverdock Road and Highway 95 and replaced them with stop signs.
 The move came following a Sept. 23 meeting between ITD, Union Pacific Railroad and Washington County commissioners to discuss safety measures at the crossing, which included potentially closing the crossing altogether.
 The meeting was called by ITD after a car v. train fatality that occurred Aug. 8.
 Representatives agreed that the next step in determining what will happen with the crossing would be to conduct a traffic study followed by an onsite diagnostic meeting where recommendations would be made for safety enhancements.
 Stakeholders and others met at the crossing immediately following the Sept. 23 meeting to conduct a cursory inspection of the site, some offering early recommendations that could make the crossing safer until a final decision about its future can be made.
 “We had some good discussion. There were some really good ideas,” said Washington County Road and Bridge Supervisor Jerod Odoms at a regular commissioner meeting on Oct. 4. “There were a couple of suggestions by the group as far as updating some signage and moving some signage, which are things that are fairly inexpensive for the county to do and something I think we probably should do.
 “There was talk of doing some line stripes … We’d have to rent or borrow equipment to do that, but that’s on the less expensive side of things we can do. They recommended rumble strips on the Riverdock side. If we incorporate the kind that you grind in, we might be able to do that with our [equipment] … to warn [motorists] that there is a change coming up.”
 Odoms said he was advised that warning lights would be an expense the county would have to pay.
 “I’m still arguing that fact,” he said. “I don’t think that crossing belongs to us; we just utilize it.”
 Odoms added that ITD has a future plan to have lights installed, possibly by 2025, though that date has not been confirmed.
 “I’m not sure the county wants to incur that cost if the state is willing to do it in a few years, but that’s something we’ll have to discuss as this process moves on,” he said.
 According to Union Pacific, putting in lights is a 15-month process.
 The other safety items, Odoms said, are things that can be done relatively inexpensively and quickly.
 “I’m going to go ahead and start working on that to keep our citizens safe,” he said.
 Odoms said a traffic counter was installed at Riverdock Road, which was removed this week and placed at the Sunnyside Road rail crossing.