New safety measures expected following tragic deaths at rail crossing

CARROLL COUNTY, Tenn. — Following recent tragedies at one railroad crossing, county officials are pushing for the installation of safety measures.

Two tragic incidents occurring at Harris Road Crossing in McKenzie have taken three lives.

“We went ahead and put some safety measures in place, stop signs at the crossings across the county that we felt were dangerous and didn’t have that already,” said Carroll County Mayor Joseph Butler.

Mayor Butler says although Harris Road Crossing has presented challenges, it has never been to this magnitude.

“The trouble is in a peripheral, the sightlines, there’s turns in each direction,” Mayor Butler said. “There’s trees, there’s growth. It’s just a–it’s really a short sightline.”

Carroll County, CSX, TDOT, and other state government officials are working to install safety measures in the area.

“The warning lights and the crossing arms, hopefully, are the true fix to this dangerous crossing at Harris Road. And of course, that will take a lot of work between local leadership, as well as TDOT at the state level, and then CSX,” Butler said.

The responsibility of funding safety measures at Harris Road Crossing does fall on local county government. The project could cost anywhere between $300,000 to $500,000 dollars.

“Little things, like striping and warnings on the road, paint, stop signs, yield signs, and so, we’re already doing a lot of that, but the big picture, the big fix, to this we feel to this one we feel is warning lights and crossing signals,” Butler said.

TDOT will fund some of the fixes.

The road is expected to remain closed as a temporary fix. While it may be inconvenient for some residents and emergency personnel, there are alternate routes.

The Carroll County Commission is expected to meet on October 13 to provide an update on the process. They hope to see this fix completed within the next six to 12 months.

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