Within one week’s time, the railroad crossing on East Market Street has been replaced.
The thoroughfare is set to reopen today after six days of closure.
Saturday’s reopening brings an end to a summer saga of failed talks and threats of litigation between the city, the Indiana Department of Transportation and CSX Transportation.
Earlier this summer, INDOT and CSX announced maintenance work on the crossing on downtown Crawfordsville’s east side, which sees more than 13,000 vehicles cross each day.
The agencies originally planned for crews to begin working on the project July 30. However, East Wabash Avenue — the only railroad overpass in a town known for stopped trains — was closed for repaving at the time.
Complicating matters was DC Construction, hired to repave East Wabash. The construction firm abandoned the project with repaving nearly 50% complete, sending city officials scrambling to find another company to finish the work.
Price Excavating was brought in to finish the job, and completed work in a matter of days.
But in July, Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton and others expressed concern to INDOT and CSX that traffic flow and public safety would be compromised if both areas were closed to traffic. However, their appeals were left unanswered and maintenance remained scheduled to begin while East Wabash was closed.
The city announced it would file a lawsuit against the agencies, prompting the agencies to resume talks.
Reopening talks caused the City to delay the lawsuit. The entities then came to an agreement to delay the maintenance work until Sept. 28.