HASSO HERING

I parked the bike on a rail at the Queen Avenue crossing to get this shot of the concrete panels on the Union Pacific mainline.

When a section of Queen Avenue was reopened this week after being torn up for utility work and then repaved, somebody complained in a comment here that the railroad crossing was still as bumpy as always.

Not quite, but as explained more than once, the notorious Queen Avenue crossing was not a part of this Albany water line replacement and paving project.

I mentioned this in a story on Oct. 19, when the paving was complete and only the line markings had yet to be applied: “This City of Albany project did not include the Queen Avenue railroad crossing itself. Improvements there are part of an ODOT and railroad project that has been planned and delayed for years and may happen in 2025 — or after that.”

Two years ago, on Oct. 7, 2022, after the crossing had been closed for several days, I reported on the completion of a partial fix of the bumpy surface between the rails. Here’s a replay:

“Both the Union Pacific and the Portland & Western railroads worked on the crossing during last week’s closure. The UP reset its mainline track in new concrete. The P&W put down asphalt to make a new surface across its three tracks. This will not be the last work to be done there. ODOT plans to install new gates and improved pedestrian walks later on, perhaps next year or the year after that. When that is done, Portland & Western plans to replace the new asphalt between the rails with concrete panels, according to plans announced earlier. For now, though, going across those tracks is less bumpy than it was, for motor vehicles and bicycles too.”

I was too optimistic about the timing of the additional work.

ODOT proposed changes on the crossing gates and sidewalks after two separate fatalities in 2014 and ’15, when people on bikes went around the lowered crossing arms and got hit by passing trains.

This “safety project” first appeared in the State Transportation Improvement Program for 2018-21 and has been postponed since then. Now, according to ODOT’s website, construction is “estimated to start in 2027 or later.”

ODOT estimates the cost through construction at $2,190,000. The amount spent so far is $395,977, and the project is still said to be in design. (It would be cheaper to post signs: “Don’t cross when arms are down: Trains coming!”)

One more thing, and the reason the crossing will never be perfectly smooth: The tracks there form a slight curve to the left looking south. The rail on the outside of the curve is — and has to be — slightly higher than the inside rail.

No matter how many concrete panels are placed there, the required height difference means that crossing those four tracks will always go bump-bump-bump-bump. Unless you’re on a bike and do a succession of short hops. (hh)