http://www.angelfire.com/tx6/rr21stcentury
PROBLEM:
Texas leads the nation in the number of automoble/train collisions;
Bexar county leads Texas in the number of automobile/train collisions;
San Antonio leads Bexar County in the number of automobile/train collisions.
PROBLEM:
The real NAFTA superhighway is now the Mo-Pac railroad Right Of Way
that has a freight train on it as much as every thirty minutes.
PROBLEM:
Motorists can be delayed by 30 to 50 minutes while waiting for long
freight trains to pass on this railroad section.
PROBLEM:
Only 1 out of 38 street crossings (east or west) are clearly marked
with white pavement markings for RailRoad Crossings.
PROBLEM:
Neighborhood residents have been hit by the train while crossing in their car;
most recently a man and his 2-year old child were killed on this railroad section;
a young lady also was killed on this railroad when driving to her morning class.
PROBLEM:
A commuter train is proposed between Austin and San Antonio with plans
to use the Mo-Pac railroad Right of Way.
SOLUTION:
PETITION to close minor street crossings on the Mo-Pac railroad Right of Way
near or in the Olmos Park, Kenwood, Monte Vista, Alta Vista, Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
If the citizens will lead..
the politicians will follow!
MAP VIEW OF SOLUTION (as called for in the petition):
Close the street crossing of the Mo-Pac ROW at Zilla Street
and develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass at Dora Street:
Develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass at Dora Street:
(existing underpass at San Pedro Avenue)
Develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass at Hildebrand Avenue;
close the Mo-Pac street crossing of West Hollywood and West Elsmere avenues:
Close the street crossings of the Mo-Pac ROW at West Hollywood Avenue,
West Elsmere Place, West Kings Highway, and West Summit Avenue:
(existing underpass at Fulton Street)
Close the street crossings at West Summit Avenue, West Magnolia Avenue,
West Mistletoe Avenue, and develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass
at West Woodlawn Avenue:
Close the street crossings at West Craig, West Russell Place, West French Place,
West Ashby Place, and develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass at West Woodlawn Avenue:
Close the street crossing of the Mo-Pac ROW at West French Place,
West Ashby Place, Hickman Street and develop a 5 year plan
to build an underpass at Fredericksburg Road:
Close the street crossing of the Mo-Pac ROW at Hickman Street, West Laurel Street,
Lombrano Street, and develop a 5 year plan to build an underpass at
Fredericksburg Road and at Culebra Avenue:
FURTHER:
Modern, interstate highways do not have cross streets running through them,
modern, interstate railroads should neither have streets crossing on the rails.
IN ADDITION:
Modern trains now travel at high speeds of 120-200 m.p.h.,
the railroad and street intersections of this last century will be
death traps in the 21st century for automobile occupants and
for passenger trains.. should one for example impact a tractor-trailer rig
there could be as many as 1000 people needing medical attention (as many
passengers as three 747s).
IN SUMMARY:
There is a need for modernization of the old railroad and street
intersection; car/train collisions will grow in number (in our area
that is statistically the worst in the nation) UNTIL WE UPDATE
AND MODERNIZE these intersections of transportation to permanently prevent
such collisions from occuring in the first place. If we have the technology
to put a man on the moon, we can build ZERO-TOLERANCE for street and
railroad same-level-intersections if we require our streets be built or
reconstructed to cross a rail line with only an underpass or overpass.
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e-mail: RAILROADS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY