Flowery Branch officials are looking at the possibility of closing one of the city's three railroad crossings in the historic downtown area.
In a presentation at the city council's Thursday meeting, officials said they're looking at ways to keep trains that stop in the city from blocking all three crossings. Mayor Mike Miller said such blockages happen at least once a week and prevent residents in the downtown area from reaching Atlanta Highway over I-985.
A representative of Norfolk Southern Railway said that closing the crossing at Chattahoochee Street could help pave the way for the railway to install a lunar light, a new technology that signals train engineers to stop at a certain point. With Chattahoochee Street closed, he said that stopping point could be placed far enough away to keep the train from blocking Lights Ferry Road's crossing, leaving residents with a pathway to and from downtown.
A traffic study conducted by Clark Patterson Lee was also shown to the council Thursday, indicating that the best option would be to close Chattahoochee Street's crossing rather than the one on Spring Street because they say Chattahoochee Street can create a dangerous angle for people trying to reach the post office across Atlanta Highway. The study also recommended that the city make Railroad Avenue a one-way road flowing northbound from Lights Ferry Road to Main Street.
No one spoke on the subject in the public comment portion of the meeting. There is no timetable yet for when the city council will vote on any changes to the current traffic patterns. Norfolk Southern representatives said they wanted to see the city make a decision by the end of October, since the corporation has until the end of December to assign funding for a possible lunar light installation.
Flowery Branch City Manager Bill Andrew said he would also reach out to Hall County officials about the possibility of altering or closing the Radford Road railroad crossing farther north, since he said that would give a southbound train room to stop without blocking the Lights Ferry Road or Spring Street crossing.
