Railroad Crossings Repair Plan OKd

Relief may soon be on the way for jostled Valley drivers under a plan approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council that aims to smooth over some of the area’s roughest railroad crossings.

In all, eight Metrolink rail crossings, including seven in the Valley, are scheduled to be reconstructed by the city’s Department of Transportation.

The work will be funded by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which operates Metrolink.

“We have received a lot of complaints about the condition of some of these crossings, but there is very little we can do,” said David Roseman, a DOT engineer. “It’s a railroad right of way. They have to come forward and fix it, and that’s what they are doing now.”

Most of the work is scheduled to begin in January, but preliminary repairs at two crossings, on Tampa and Corbin avenues, will be done at night during the next two weekends, Roseman said.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who introduced the motion, requested emergency repairs on Tampa and Corbin avenues because of the especially poor condition of those crossings. Several of the crossings scheduled to be repaired are in Bernson’s West Valley district.

Making the crossings smoother will require replacing both the base of the tracks and the tracks themselves, Roseman said. Traffic officers will be on hand during construction to divert drivers to other routes. “We will try to minimize the impact to the community as much as possible,” Roseman said.

In addition to those on Tampa and Corbin avenues, Metrolink crossings on Chatsworth Street, Devonshire Street, De Soto Avenue, Winnetka Avenue and Lindley Avenue will also be rebuilt. The eighth crossing is downtown.