Crossing signals coming
 to Minnesota town

Warning signals and gates are expected to be guarding Annandale's increasingly busy South Poplar Lane railroad crossing within a year, The Annadale Advocate reports. The Annandale City Council approved an agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the state of Minnesota to install the system at its regular meeting.

Canadian Pacific crews,
meanwhile, replaced crossings at two county roads in and near Annandale recently
and were scheduled at two more the week of April 12 as part of a rail upgrading
project between Buffalo and Paynesville.

South Poplar Lane
provides access to dozens of homes in Purcell’s Ponds south of the CPR tracks
as well as Big Woods Park, Classic Rides & Rods event center, the city
water treatment plant, maintenance garage and weapons training center.

Traffic there "has
only increased through the years and we will see future increases," city
administrator Mark Casey said, with continued growth of the city southward. So
the signal system is an important and much-needed safety measure, he said.

According to the agreement,
Canadian Pacific will install the signals within a year of authorization. The
system will cost $228,000, but Annandale will pay only $22,800, or 10 percent,
while state and federal funds will cover the other $205,200, or 90 percent. The
city, which applied to the Minnesota Department of Transportation for the
signals about two years ago, has the money for its share in the streets fund,
Casey told the council.

Two city crossings,
Myrtle Drive South and Pioneer Park Trail, will be unguarded when the South
Poplar Lane signals are installed. County Road 6 east of the city and County
Road 5, Excelsior Avenue South, in Annandale were closed for two days each last
week as railroad workers rebuilt the crossings. County Road 3 west of Annandale
was closed April 12-13 for crossing replacement, and crews were scheduled to be
working at County Road 2 in South Haven.

The work is part of
Canadian Pacific plans to replace the track on about 45 miles of the line from
Buffalo to Paynesville with heavier rails over the next few weeks, railroad
spokesman Jeff Johnson said. The old rail weighs 115 pounds per three-foot
segment, he said, while the same-sized piece of the new rail weighs 136 pounds.

"It’s thicker,
heavier. It’s more durable and you don’t have as many problems with it." Johnson
said. The new track will be the same continuous welded rail that it’s
replacing, he said.

The South Haven City
Council has agreed to let the railroad close the Fairhaven Avenue crossing in
exchange for installing signals at Oak Avenue at no cost to the city. The work
is targeted for next year, city administrator Carol Banken said.