Re: Train whistles, "Make it stop" OT

GeorgeGaskill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (More serious concern: what if there's a fire
> or a medical emergency there? Why I say they
> shouldn't have been allowed to build 'em there.)
>
>
> Cut Bank,MT, had a similar problem. Big Brother
> came in and built a giant concrete overpass that
> gave a route that was not obstructed by passing
> trains for this kind of traffic. Sounds like some
> local should ask his Congressman about this.

It's been discussed. Problem is the BNSF tracks are only about half a block from the main drag (1st st.) which used to be US 193 back before the Interstate boondoggle (now state hiway 904) and there isn't enough room to get high enough on a grade acceptable in modern terms (I remember some overpasses in Iowa in my childhood that were steeper but they were old. Heck, some of them were built of wood!) and then it's a fair piece to the UP tracks. And of course the buildings in question are just past the UP so you'd need to go down steeply on that side too. Add a bit of snow and drivers who don't understand Physics & and the Art of Automobile Driving, and stand back and watch the follies!
A fun irony is that, in trying to beat trains to the next crossing, about 3/4 of a mile (same problems there, more or less), using Front st. which lies between the lines, they've pretty much ruined the pavement (seal coat) on Front which just goes between the crossings and only has about 5 houses on the East side of the street. (West side is the BNSF yard/main, there's also some pasture land on the East.) This was all a concern before they let the idiot apartments get built, in fact it's been argued about at least since I moved here in '86!
Well, Spokane got them to fund the "North-South Freeway" they've been trying for since the 1940's (speaking of unnessecary boondoggles) so maybe somebody will figure out a way to bridge the tracks here, without going 5 miles out of town to do it, and how to get Uncle Sam to foot the bill.

I'm thinking maybe this thread has run it's course? At least for this round.

Hank

PS Always puzzles me as to why we are building more new highways when we can't seem to come up with the scratch to maintain the ones we've got. I know, I know: Completed Repair Job != Ribbon Cutting Photo Op.