Impasse remains on rail crossings
RICHMOND – Another meeting – one building on meetings going back to 2016 – ended with the usual uncertainty about finding an alternative to the closed and deteriorating old Highway 13 bridge in Henrietta.
There are three primary issues:
• With no hope of Ray County coming up with millions of dollars to repair the former Missouri Department of Transportation bridge, farmers want a safe way to move north and south across the railroad tracks and through the Henrietta area;
• BNSF Railway appears willing to provide a safe crossing, but only if other, less-used crossings can be closed; and
• Although few people use the public Gill Road and private Williams Road crossings, those who use the Gill Road crossing are worried they would not have an easy way to get crops to market and those using the private Williams Road crossing are adamant they will not give up the crossing.
“We feel like a crossing is the way to go, if we’re going to get a solution to the old overpass,” Henrietta Special…