Perseverance pays off for Greene County grandmother; rail crossing safety improvements coming

Harmon invited the three commissioners to go and visit three troublesome railroad bridges which have very steep approaches in Wright and Stockton townships.

Harmon invited the three commissioners to go and visit what she described as "dangerous" crossings on County Roads 400N, 450N and 500N -- all located west of State Road 59.

She had also contacted officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and Indiana Railroad Company, of Indianapolis, which owns the rail line seeking help.

Her reasons for being interested in the railroad crossings are somewhat personal.

Harmon, who operates a bookkeeping business in Linton, said she became vividly aware of the dangerous situations last year while she was waiting for her 6-year-old great-grandson to die in an Indianapolis hospital from injuries he sustained while a passenger in a car that struck a train on one of those county roads.

Christopher Perez Stevenson passed away Feb. 21, 2008 at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis six days after he sustained serious head injuries in a single-vehicle crash at one of the crossings on County Road 400 North, approximately half a mile west of State Road 59.

She also mounted a petition drive to call awareness to the dangerous problem while continuing to press county, state and rail officials to rectify the situation.

Harmon's perseverance is starting to pay off.

Work by INDOT is scheduled to begin next month on installation of LCD flasher and cross arms on the rail crossings on County Road 400, County Road 450 and County Road 500.

Currently, none of the three intersections with dangerous inclines and blind spots have crossing arms or warning lights.

The work is being contracted by Indiana Railroad Company.

The crossing on County Road 500N is scheduled to be done on July 6, followed by County Road 450N on July 13 and County Road 400N on July 26, according to Cher Goodwin, spokesperson for INDOT's district office in Vincennes.

Harmon said she is elated and relieved that officials have listened to her concerns.

"All three of them (the county roads) will have the lights, the cross arms and will use the new LCD lights," Harmon pointed out. "I have been working with the (INDOT) officials out of the Vincennes District for a year now. I didn't really say a whole lot to anyone. They were trying to get it in the budget. They weren't sure. Then, they notified me that it was in the budget for next year (2010, then moved up to this year). So I think keeping in touch with them helped. At least, it (the work) will help our school bus drivers and everyone who has to go over those roads for a while until we get this grade changed."

The concerned grandmother said the lights and cross arms is one phase of what she would like to see done to improve the safety at those three rail sites.

"Next is to work with the state and the railroad and the commissioners to change the grade level of the road," she said.

Harmon's petition to the commissioners offered two options to make the crossings safer. She plans to formally present the petition at the August commissioner's meeting.

The options:

* Lower the railroad tracks to lower the roadway level.

* Change the incline and the grade of the road to where there is at least a school bus length on both sides of the track for vehicles to stop and to enable people to look for trains or automobiles coming.

Harmon said she is not doing the petition or appealing to state and local officials to correct the dangerous situation at the three crossings because her great-grandson died there.

"It's not because of my great-grandson, but because of him I became aware of these roads."

Learning of the state's decision to move forward with improving the rail crossings is bittersweet in a sense, but still satisfying to Harmon.

"If it (the rail crossing improvements) saves a whole bus load of children, then his (Christopher's) life was worthwhile," she said. "It (word of the safety work) brings back all of the old scars.

Harmon continued, "My reaction when they (INDOT) called was absolute shock that we are going to get it (the lights and crossing arms) so early. Then my next reaction was relief and joy because I know it will be in place this summer for young people out driving around and it's going to be there for the bus drivers for this fall. That makes it worth all of the time that we've put in."