Traffic Alert: Glenville's Freeman's Bridge Road to close for rail crossing repairs
GLENVILLE, NY (WRGB) — A major traffic headache could be coming to Glenville later this month.
Town officials are trying to get the word out that one of the town‘s busiest roads will be closed to allow for rail road repairs.
For years, the rugged rail crossings on Freeman’s Bridge Road just south of Dutch Meadows Lane has been the source of traffic and frustration for motorists.
“It’s causing a back up in traffic because people have to go over it so slowly or they damage their cars,” said Chris Koetzle, Glenville Town Supervisor. “We’ve had people damage their cars on it.”
“This has been a dangerous crossing for years and we’ve been pushing the real company to fix this for years and they are finally doing,” he added.
Koetzle says CSX Rail and the state DOT will fix the rail crossings, which will close the portion of Freeman’s Bridge Rd around it from November 15-17.
But after last week’s emergency shut down of Sunnyside Road, which would have been the detour, many motorists may drive into a frustration situation.
“So, in some ways the timing couldn’t be any worse since the emergency situation on the Sunnyside bridge, which isn’t too far away. This is actually the detour for the Sunnyside bridge,” said Koetzle.
Drivers who don’t plan accordingly may find themselves on the road for much longer than they had planned.
Koetzle wants drivers to be aware now to avoid a pile of vehicles needing to turn around.
MORE: Victim fatally struck by train in Albany
“I know a lot of folks think it should be night work to mitigate daytime travel,” said Koetzle.
But he says that’s not possible.
“The amount of work that has to be done on this is going to require that nothing really pass over it for those three days,” he said.
“We really can’t put it off because once the weather changes now we got to wait until May and we can’t have people going over this all winter,” he adds.
The town supervisor says that the DOT will be issuing a detour map in the coming days.
