Better railroad crossings

Here are some quick photos of railroad crossings that see large numbers of heavy trucks. They're located over by the gravel quarry southeast of Owasso, and they're what's needed on Mingo Road.

This crossing is on 56th Street North and has been in use only a few months.


I don't know what traffic counts are like along this road, but most of it consists of gravel trucks.


This is the same type of crossing, but it's over on 145th Street. It's been in use for years, and as you can see, it shows very little wear and tear.


Trucks descend this hill fully loaded, only to encounter the tracks at the bottom. Before the crossing was improved, it accounted for a couple of flat tires on my bike - before I learned to jam on the brakes HARD, and slow down to a walking pace to cross those tracks!


Finally, and this is totally unrelated to the railroad photos, here's an Owasso fire truck parked outside Reasors last night. I liked the glowing light from the setting sun, and in all honesty, I have a little kid's fascination with fire trucks!

Mingo Road repair work..

This is how the railroad crossing at Mingo Road and E 56th St North appeared yesterday. This is looking north. Notice the shallow angle and the very rough planking between the rails. Several cyclist have fallen here in good weather. It's far more treacherous when it's wet.

I wrote about this crossing in The Zig-Zag Man back in 2005.






The rest of these photos were taken this afternoon. Surprisingly, it's the Public Works Department from the city of Tulsa doing this work, not the railroad. I thought the RR was responsible for all these crossings.








Here's the good news - the crossing will be finished sometime later today! The road will be open again by 6 or 7PM according to the work crew.