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Between work on two railroad crossings and planned road work, downtown Warsaw next week will have lane restrictions, road closures and detours that drivers will have to safely navigate.
While the road work has been planned for a while by the city, Warsaw Public Works Director Dustin Dillon said they just found out about the railroad company’s plans for railroad crossing work in the last week or so.
“That road project was bid out a couple months ago,” he said, adding the railroad crossing work was a “good surprise, really, because they are definitely in dire need of being enhanced, for sure.”
Norfolk Southern Railroad will be making improvements to railroad crossings at Center and Main streets beginning on Monday, Oct. 20, according to a news release from the city Tuesday. This will consist of removing poor subgrade, replacing the subgrade, replacing rails and ultimately new HMA asphalt at each of the crossings.
Both Center and Main streets’ railroad crossings will be closed simultaneously to perform this work as quickly and effectively as possible. Closures are expected to last through Friday, Oct. 24.
A detour route will direct Center Street traffic south on Scott Street to Winona Avenue and west to Detroit Street. Main Street traffic will be able to use Park Avenue to travel north or south. Residents and motorists will experience delays for the week, but repairs of the crossings are greatly needed and necessary, the release states.
Dillon said the only crossing repairs Norfolk Southern has told the city about for now are the ones at Center and Main streets.
“But we’re constantly leaning on them to try to get them to do more,” he said. “We’re trying to get them to take a look at Winona, as well as Market Street and 350 North. We’re actively on them about those. We’re trying to work with them and get as much help as we can right now.”
The city on Tuesday also announced the construction project to be completed in the downtown district. The scope of this project will include the milling, full depth patching and paving of four road segments. These road segments are as follows:
• Center Street (from Detroit Street to Indiana Street)
• Lake Street (from Center Street to Main Street)
• Main Street (from Lake Street to Buffalo Street)
• Fort Wayne Street (from Detroit Street to Buffalo Street).
Road construction will begin on Monday, Oct. 20 and is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 27, weather permitting. Each road segment will be milled, patched and paved before the next road segment is started.
Lake and Main streets will be under construction as a packaged pair with milling and paving those to be continuous. There will be some temporary lane restrictions, and road closures on these road segments during construction.
Meanwhile, Lake City Bank’s work on its building at 122 E. Center St. is continuing, through Nov. 21, with the southbound lane of Indiana Street there closed, as well as some parking spots along Center Street.
“It’s not going to be that bad because when we worked with Brooks (Construction), when I had a meeting with them, they’re going to work on one road at a time,” Dillon said. “Right now what I’m trying to get them to hone in on, and I’ll know Thursday for sure, is to have them go ahead and start with Center Street there between Detroit Street and Indiana because the railroad crossing is going to be closed that week anyway. So, we might as well work on that section first. They’ll mill it, do the full-depth patching and then pave it the next day, so it’ll just be a two-day intermittent closure. It won’t be closed permanently, it’ll just be for odds and ends, enough for it to cool down to pave ... but, just some lane restrictions.”
He said it won’t be closed for two straight days completely, and then they’ll go to Lake and Main and then Fort Wayne Street.
“There’s going to be flaggers, it’ll be opened up as the day goes on, but it won’t be just a complete permanent closure all at once either,” Dillon stated.
Safety will be the number one priority. He said the railroad has its own company that will come in and handle their own road closure so that city won’t necessarily be involved in that. However, if the railroad needs support, Dillon said the city will take action to make sure everyone is safe.
The city has reviewed its own safety plan for its road closures, with Brooks Construction reviewing it.
“It’s going to be a slow process, but they’re going to work with people so they can get in and out as well,” Dillon said.
The Downtown Spooktacular is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. Dillon said the road crews will be out of there by then or at least at a stopping point so the event can go on.
Parking stalls will also have closures during construction times. To minimize the impact, the city of Warsaw has rented 25 parking spaces to be used free of charge at the southeast corner of Main and Indiana streets. These parking spaces will be available for the month of October as well as through November for downtown patrons.
Any updates to the construction schedule will be posted immediately to news outlets, and any questions can be directed to the Public Works Department at 574-372-9561.
“I want to try to get in front of it as much as possible, as soon as we find out,” Dillon said. “We’ll keep them (notices) coming as fast as we can.”
In approximately another month, road construction will cease for the year.
