ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210080
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
Town Council passed an ordinance Tuesday against trains blowing their whistles at the Chrisman Mill Road crossing, in response to complaints from nearby residents.
In response to the new law, a Norfolk Southern spokesman on Wednesday called for the closure of the rural road to prevent train-car collisions.
Diamond Point subdivision residents had told the council that trains blow their whistles at all hours of the day and night. The sound rattle walls and makes sleeping in some rooms in some nearby houses impossible.
Residents had been complaining about the whistles for years, but when they learned that the council in the 1980s had outlawed whistles at the heavily traveled Cambria crossing, they asked the town to do the same for them. Virtually all the residents in the neighborhood signed a petition asking for the measure.
Tuesday's vote was 4-1, with Ann Carter dissenting. Scott Weaver was absent.
Carter said she had visited the crossing and decided the gates and lights might not provide enough safety.
Town Manager John Lemley said federal train regulations, under review now, would require trains to sound their whistles at town crossings and would supercede the town's ordinances. Those regulations may take effect by the end of the year.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Bob Auman said 25 trains per day on average cross Chrisman Mill Road. "We feel like motorists need an audible warning. We think that in the interest of safety the best thing to do would be to close the crossing," Auman said. "That way there would be no train whistle and no possibility of a train colliding with a motor vehicle."
Virginia Department of Transportation official David Clarke said 1993 traffic counts recorded 126 cars per day using the road section that includes the crossing. Clarke said he wasn't sure what would have to happen to consider closing the road.
In other news, the council, after an executive session, agreed to allow Lemley to negotiate the purchase of a small tract between the fire station and site of the proposed rescue squad building on Cambria Street, to accommodate future expansions of the buildings.
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