
On Monday March 8th, CSX representatives met with Free Schuylkill River Park Coalition members and took a tour of the Locust and Race Street grade crossings.
Coalition coordinators and representatives from Philly Runners, Bicycle Club of Philadelphia, Bicycle Coalition, Fairmount Civic Association, DAG, Logan Square Neighborhood Association and Philadelphia Parks Alliance made the following points:
•There is a strong demand for grade crossing from the numerous park users
•Lack of grade crossings will create a safety problem for park users below Chestnut Street
•Lack of grade crossing at Locust will impede the ability of emergency vehicles from getting south of Chestnut Street due to the abutment under the Chestnut Street bridge
•Grade crossings at both locations are critical to the success and safety of the park
•We want safe grade crossings (with current technology) rather than unauthorized and unmonitored crossings
CSX indicated that they needed the tracks as a back up place to switch trains when other locations were not available though they said it was possible to break the trains up to keep the crossings open if they were established.
Rain began to fall and the meeting ended without any resolution. The next meeting will take place between City attorneys and CSX on Thursday March 19th.
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