The Problem:
Norfolk Southern, a venerable and integral piece of American transportation infrastructure, decides to block the primary ingress and egress route for the Buffat Heights and Loveland Neighborhoods of East Knoxville. Seemingly at random, trains will stop in the Ault Road and Spring Hill Road crossings for switching activity in the nearby Sevier trainyard. The stoppages can sometimes last for several hours.
Impacts:
Residents of these neighborhoods face significant delays when train stoppages occur during rush hour. Because the length of the delay is unknown, school / city buses and other large vehicles will attempt to turn around in the limited space in attempt to keep their schedule. Many residents are concerned that critical life saving medical and public safety services could be delayed due to these events.
Solutions:
Norfolk Southern could give a modicum of consideration to the residents of these neighborhoods and carefully schedule the stoppages to occur outside of peak traffic hours. Keeping these crossings passable between 6:00am to 8:00am and 4:00pm to 6:00pm on weekdays would greatly relieve the dangerous traffic situations that commonly occur.
Signage could be installed at the Rutledge Pike intersections of Ault Road and Spring Hill Road to indicate that a train is in the crossing. This would reduce the amount of vehicles attempting to turn around in limited space.