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Starting on a positive note: The installation of a new levee gate system at a gap created by a Norfolk Southern Railway line is unequivocally a good thing. Addressing this and several other locations where the levee didn’t come to full height was long overdue. These locations were being protected by the antiquated system of piling sufficient sandbags on demand.
While it is true the need for filling this gap has been rare, sandbags are intensely time consuming and require a great deal of manpower, yet inevitably become (or at least, should become) the weakest link in any modern flood protection system. Sandbags should be a last resort, not a first option in holding back the flood.
So kudos to the change from sandbags to a quicker and presumably more secure removable gating system at the gap near the Wilkes University women’s softball field and Kirby Park tennis courts. Bonus praise to the larger project (of which this is a part) to close other gaps. The more robust the levee system, the safer everyone who lives in the protected flood zone. Even when the price may raise eyebrows, it is money well spent compared to the cost of any levee failure.
But there is a downside to this particular fix. The railroad company would not allow the new gate system to be installed without an accompanying fence and lockable gate to prevent pedestrians and cyclists from crossing the gap and thus using more of the levee trail.
As a Tuesday story pointed out, the railroad crossing has been a sore spot for years. Norfolk Southern owns the bit of land where the tracks cross the levee. While Luzerne County has an easement for the levee, trail users have long ignored “no trespassing” signs and wooden barricades designed to prevent crossing the tracks. The trespassing, in fact, potentially damaged the levee through erosion around the tracks.
For Norfolk Southern, the fencing — which runs well beyond the levee trail to more aggressively prevent trespassing — makes sense, at least at first blush. It’s a safety issue. For the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority, there was little choice. The new gate was a near-must, the railroad company wouldn’t approve it without the fence.
“After lengthy negotiations, they would not budge,” Authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman said. The company would be fine with a pedestrian overpass, but such a project would be staggering in cost. The gap is shallow; the overpass would have to be very high for train clearance. And, as Belleman pointed out, the authority’s task is holding back the Susquehanna when it becomes dangerous. A levee hiker/biker trail is a fortunate side effect, not a focus.
“Our money has to be spent on flood protection, not recreation.”
Yet there are other trail projects that cross train tracks at grade without such drama (near White Haven, at Penn Junction and near Jim Thorpe, to name a few). In this location, there seems to be ample visibility in both directions along the tracks to make odds of a train collision on the trail minimal. Surely, if rail vandalism is a concern, there are other options. And while the stretch of trail made inaccessible (from the Kirby Park side), is short, it is also valuable, linking the trail to U.S. Route 11 — and a bit beyond — in Edwardsville.
We urge Norfolk Southern to reconsider. Perhaps a rigorous study of the site could be conducted. Leave the gates open, track use (and abuse), get some new and solid numbers on real-world safety and risk. If the gap continues to be traversed with no incident, maybe leave the gates open.
By design, gates can both welcome and turn back. This is one case where the preferred default, if possible, should be “welcome.”
— Times Leader