[new_royalslider id=”17″]The rail crossing at Route 40 and the Norfolk and Southern tracks has opened early.
The opening was good news for Bear-Glasgow residents who had seen their area cut in half , with traffic skyrocketing on otherwise quiet roads by the closing on the key artery. As of Sunday morning, traffic was moving through the crossing with no lane restrictions in place.
It was marked a small victory for DelDOT, its secretary Shailen P. Bhatt and the administration of Gov. Jack Markell. Since becoming DelDOT secretary in 2011, Bhatt has struggled with long-running problems at the department over land acquisition and other management practices.
The closing sharply increased weekend traffic on Route 72, Route 71 and other routes around the crossing.
The crossing has been in poor condition and train traffic has increased with the movement of crude oil to the Delaware City Refinery. The closing made life tougher for businesses in the Route 40 corridor.
Proposals at one point called for a rail overpass in the area, with land targeted for acquisition. However, the project never moved forward as the department was squeezed by the cost of the Route 1 project in New Castle and Kent counties, flat gas tax revenues, and no federal gas tax increase in nearly two decades.
Businesses, dependent on drive-by traffic often see double-digit declines during such disruptions.
The crossing was to have been closed until Monday, August 26 at 5 a.m. Crews worked around the clock. The project also overcame a major challenge when heavy rain tested newly installed drainage pipes.
Message boards were in place throughout the region were used to move traffic away from the U.S. Route 40 railroad crossings to minimize traffic impacts along the local detour route. DelDOT labeled one two-lane route, Reybold Road, as closed to through traffic, although it remained opens in an effort to make life easier for residents and ease congestion off that road.
Paving and other work is expected to lead to lane closings in the area as traffic is wrapped up, a DelDOT official told WDEL.
Norfolk Southern and Mumford and Miller, Middletown, worked on the crossing.
