Alameda Drive RR crossing users

Over the Thanksgiving break we learned that the Union Pacific Railroad will be upgrading the bike/ped crossing from the existing bumpy asphalt that’s there today to a more standard concrete crossing plate design.

New crossing plates staged just north of the crossing

This is great news and we are asking that the City of Tempe request that the railroad remove the siding tracks just to the west of the ‘Tempe Spur’ as they are unused and just create a hazard.

About 90′ of prebuilt track ready to set in place during construction

While these new materials are being put in place Alameda Drive crossing users may have to detour around the crossing. We’re hoping that we can simply scramble over the curb, around the wall, and climb over the tracks just north of the crossing but may be blocked from this area completely.

There’s also a chance that the new crossing plates raise the grade of the crossing to such an extent that the ramps on the east and west side no longer align and will need to be rebuilt. This could further delay access to the rebuilt crossing but I think the city contractors may be more amenable to the above detour path if it comes to this.

Thanks and ride on!

UPDATE

Well the Railroad finished their work but…

Our expectations were realized. The new crossing grade is higher than the ramps on both sides so the City of Tempe has some work to do. We’ll be reaching out to them with these pictures to see what the plan is and update this post if necessary.