# Civic Matters > Suburban & Other OK Communities > Moore >  4th st railroad crossing

## s00nr1

Those of you like myself who rely on 4th St. for their daily commutes understand the dire condition of the railroad crossing near 4th and Broadway. Not only is it hard on vehicles but also of late has become a traffic issue with commuters having to slam on their brakes to prevent speed-bump-like damage to their vehicles. I wanted to let you know I've been in contact with Richard Sandefur with the City of Moore over the past couple of months trying to get BNSF to repair this crossing. Here are the responses just as FYI:




> 12/13/12
> This is the worst crossing in our city. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad is responsible for the maintenance of crossings. Ill make sure they have been notified again about this crossing. Hopefully they have scheduled this for maintenance.
> Richard


I hadn't heard or seen any progress in nearly 2 months so I emailed him once again last night to which he responded:




> 2/11/13
> I talked to Road Master Chris Jennings from BNSF on January 5th about the crossing. He said there were other crossings in the area. He also stated that 4th street would need to be completely closed off. I said that would not be a problem. I assured him we would help in any way we can. I will ask our Assistant City Manager to follow up on this asap.
> Thanks
> Richard



Sad to see BNSF's total disregard for the upkeep of this crossing.

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## Roger S

They need to do more than repair the crossings at 4th and 12th street. They need to make underpasses  to alleviate the traffic issues and help with the sound issues. That's two fewer times the trains have to sound their horns while passing through.

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## s00nr1

Well, to be quite honest having underpasses at 19th and 27th streets provides better options than that of Norman and I see very little chance of the crossing at 4th being converted to the same.




> They need to do more than repair the crossings at 4th and 12th street. They need to make underpasses  to alleviate the traffic issues and help with the sound issues. That's two fewer times the trains have to sound their horns while passing through.

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## soonermike

An underpass at 4th or 12th is definitely under consideration

http://www.mooremonthly.com/index.ph...s&news_id=1392

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## s00nr1

Thanks for the link. However, "studies" and "plans" from 8 months ago are far from saying something will actually be done. Unless ODot would be picking up a significant chunk of the $10M estimate on 4th st, I would find it hard to believe the city would make this a priority....especially when they have the new park being constructed very near that proposed underpass.




> An underpass at 4th or 12th is definitely under consideration
> 
> http://www.mooremonthly.com/index.ph...s&news_id=1392

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## s00nr1

For now the first priority should be getting that crossing brought back to level.

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## Roger S

The 4th Street crossing needs to be done in coordination with the new park.

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## OKCisOK4me

Just out of curiosity...is that crossing the old wood ties between asphalt and rail?  If they replace it, it will be all new concrete crossings and that will easily solve the problem at hand.

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## Roger S

You know I cross there at least a dozen times a week and I honestly couldn't tell you what the materials at the crossing are..... Probably because I'm usually to busy reliving a Dukes of Hazzard scene as I catch air over it and hoping no critical parts go flying off my old Dodge.  :Cool:

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## s00nr1

> Just out of curiosity...is that crossing the old wood ties between asphalt and rail?  If they replace it, it will be all new concrete crossings and that will easily solve the problem at hand.


No it's actually a concrete crossing. The issue is with the raised asphalt on both sides of the concrete crossing itself. Basically imagine an asphalt speed bump on both sides of the crossing.

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## Jesseda

> You know I cross there at least a dozen times a week and I honestly couldn't tell you what the materials at the crossing are..... Probably because I'm usually to busy reliving a Dukes of Hazzard scene as I catch air over it and hoping no critical parts go flying off my old Dodge.


lol, I go over it daily and even when I go over it at a snails pace it feels like one of my tires will blow or fall off. But the best part is that you got to love the trains during the busy times around the start of school and when school lets out. you would think since the medical center is on 4th that they would put a underpass

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## OKCisOK4me

> No it's actually a concrete crossing. The issue is with the raised asphalt on both sides of the concrete crossing itself. Basically imagine an asphalt speed bump on both sides of the crossing.


Then this sounds like a city issue to me, rather than a BNSF issue.

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## s00nr1

> Then this sounds like a city issue to me, rather than a BNSF issue.


I forgot to mention there is raised asphalt in between the two tracks as well. I will take a picture of it on my way home from work this evening so there is less confusion.

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## OKCisOK4me

> I forgot to mention there is raised asphalt in between the two tracks as well. I will take a picture of it on my way home from work this evening so there is less confusion.


No, I get what you're talking about, lol.  It sounds like it would be solved if the whole crossing, both the concrete plate slabs that BNSF has and everything in between and on each side needs to be changed to concrete.  Of course, after that you'll have the issue of the asphalt on each side of that buckling.

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## Roger S

This picture doesn't really do it justice and I think the crossing on 12th Street is even worse.
4th street.jpg

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## damonsmuz

Didnt they just repair this section of the track a year ago? I remember they closed it off for a day. The fix worked mostly for traffic heading east on S 4th but the slowdown comes when you head west. 

I saw 2 cops sitting near the tracks running radar... ain't no body speeding down that section of the street unless you wanna slam into the tracks. It's one thing to see a little Honda Civic slow down,but to see a F-250 slow down as well...something needs to be done... 

I dont see any overpasses being built until there is more development on the east side of the track.

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## zcamaro70

> Didnt they just repair this section of the track a year ago? I remember they closed it off for a day. The fix worked mostly for traffic heading east on S 4th but the slowdown comes when you head west. 
> 
> I saw 2 cops sitting near the tracks running radar... ain't no body speeding down that section of the street unless you wanna slam into the tracks. It's one thing to see a little Honda Civic slow down,but to see a F-250 slow down as well...something needs to be done... 
> 
> I dont see any overpasses being built until there is more development on the east side of the track.


Last night I saw a car going to fast over these tracks, spin out and stop in the oncoming traffic lane.  Only reason they did not get hit was the traffic was light.  Would have killed someone if they hit.

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## bille

With the impending construction of the central park right there this would be a perfect opportunity to work the underpass as well.  Certainly the apparent multiple-year plan to redo sections of 12th street is keeping any type of construction elsewhere on hold.  All that said, I can't see there being another major bond vote happening so soon after the recent parks/schools votes.  Now would definitely be the time to do it but I don't see that happening, it would be too convenient and obvious.

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## 94GTStang

I'm surprised there aren't more posts about this atrocious crossing. I take it daily and I'm sick and tired of how bad it has become. I would be MORE than happy taking another route if they wanted to close it down and put in an under pass. My kicker is the trains that stop there at 5:30 to let another train go by and the whole intersection looks like a sea of lights.

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## Mississippi Blues

> I'm surprised there aren't more posts about this atrocious crossing. I take it daily and I'm sick and tired of how bad it has become. I would be MORE than happy taking another route if they wanted to close it down and put in an under pass. My kicker is the trains that stop there at 5:30 to let another train go by and the whole intersection looks like a sea of lights.


It's atrocious. Any other takers?

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## Jesseda

> It's atrocious. Any other takers?


The city is ignoring the many request for a underpass, I think its more important for them to keep redoing 12th street over and over again. Its time the citizens take action, lets all meet at the 4th street bridge this saturday at noon, bring shovels and bags of cement we are digging our own underpass  :Smile:

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## flintysooner

> The city is ignoring the many request for a underpass,


Not exactly being ignored but the problem is the $20 Million to $30 Million for an overpass at 34th Street and 4th Street would be at least that much or more. 

Besides Norman just now has managed to open an underpass on Robinson at a total cost of $25 Million of which the City share was about $10 Million; whereas,  Moore already has an underpass on SW 19th and NE 27th. 

Good funding ideas would certainly be useful.

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## 94GTStang

> Not exactly being ignored but the problem is the $20 Million to $30 Million for an overpass at 34th Street and 4th Street would be at least that much or more. 
> 
> Besides Norman just now has managed to open an underpass on Robinson at a total cost of $25 Million of which the City share was about $10 Million; whereas,  Moore already has an underpass on SW 19th and NE 27th. 
> 
> Good funding ideas would certainly be useful.


Some property tax on the new LifeChurch monstrosity would help

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## flintysooner

> Some property tax on the new LifeChurch monstrosity would help


Probably ought to get rid of the rest of that pesky Bill of Rights while we're at it.

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## 94GTStang

> Probably ought to get rid of the rest of that pesky Bill of Rights while we're at it.


I wish this statement would resound more often around here when the creationist get there way or the religious undermine scientific progress within our state houses. But as much as I would like to see the millions of dollars roll in from taxing churches, as it would create a slippery slope. 

I would much rather see 4th Street repaved. The pioneers had better roads

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## damonsmuz

So, 4th st was closed by the railroad crossing for 3 days. Was it closed to replace the railroad tracks or was it closed to fix the crossing? The crossing still blows...

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## s00nr1

> So, 4th st was closed by the railroad crossing for 3 days. Was it closed to replace the railroad tracks or was it closed to fix the crossing? The crossing still blows...


You know, I was wondering the same thing. They had the crossing closed yet it appears they did NOTHING to improve it. I plan on writing my councilman to see what the status is.

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## soonermike

The city had said that they hoped the crossing would be smoothed out during these latest track repairs, but the crossing is just as bad, and possibly worse, as it was before.

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## menos

I took a close look at the crossing this morning on my way to work and it looks like they just did the same thing they did 2 years ago which was to lay some asphalt down at the point where the roadbed meets the trackbed. If anything it's made the difference in height between the two greater. Basically what you end up with is a speedbump on either side of both sets of tracks. I also noticed chunks of the "New" repair are already breaking off.

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## menos

Also, has anybody filed a complaint yet?
I found this form on the Oklahoma Corp. Commission website. It can't hurt to file a complaint.
OCC Motor Carrier and Railroad Complaint Form

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## s00nr1

I just filled out and submitted a complaint via that link and also emailed my councilman (ward 1) in hopes he might be able to get something done.

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## s00nr1

This is the response I received from Councilman Roberts today:




> Unfortunately the City of Moore has little if any influence on the railroad.   They are accountable only to federal regulators and we have had little success in that regards also.  However,  I note that they are continuing to work on the crossing.

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## menos

Ok then... If BNSF only wants to listen to the feds, file a complaint with the feds.

Rail Customer and Public Assistance

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## MonkeesFan

How about getting rid of the railroad? :Stick Out Tongue:

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## OKCisOK4me

> How about getting rid of the railroad?


Not gonna happen but good luck with that dream, lol...

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## MonkeesFan

> Not gonna happen but good luck with that dream, lol...


Yeah I know but it would be nice to dream though

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## Dubya61

> How about getting rid of the railroad?


Why get rid of the railroad?  It's a much more cost efficient method of transportation -- especially for long distances.

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## Zuplar

News | Moore Monthly

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