The Norfolk Southern railroad crossing at Sixth Street, at top, would move if a relocation plan is approved. A portion of the CSX lines, above, also could be relocated. The main CSX line will not be moved; all sites have been ruled out. ANNETTE M. DROWLETTE/STAFF

Plans aim to divert trains

It's a move that could forever change your excuse for being late to work in downtown Augusta.

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Depending on which road you travel, your path could eventually be free of railroad crossings because of a relocation plan presented Thursday to transportation officials by Augusta planners.

Under the plans, Norfolk Southern crossings at Sixth Street would cease. CSX crossings, such as the one at 15th and Broad streets, will most likely still serve as an excuse for motorists who hit the snooze button too many times.

"It is never going to be moved," George Patty, the director of the Augusta Planning Commission, announced Thursday, referring to the CSX main line that runs parallel to Walton Way.

Mr. Patty said possible sites to move that main line, which crosses all numbered streets downtown, included a North Augusta location and the Augusta Levee. Both areas, he said, have now been ruled out.

"It's going to be there for our lifetime," he said. "We've just got to live with that."

Still, two proposed railroad relocation plans could make a downtown drive easier. They were both approved by the Augusta Regional Transportation Study Policy Committee on Thursday and added to their long-range plans with a design and planning cost of $4.2 million.

One idea is to remove a small portion of a CSX rail that connects to the company's main line near Walton Way. If implemented, that plan, which Mr. Patty called a "relatively minor project," would cause the connector railroad to feed into another line and no longer cross Walton Way.

A plan to move the Norfolk Southern line that runs through the middle of Sixth Street for about a mile also was unveiled Thursday.

Motorists on Broad Street near the 15th Street intersection wait for a train to cross. JONATHAN ERNST/FILE

Its relocation, which Mr. Patty said would be a "massive project," would move the railroad away from Sixth Street, eliminating crossings near the thoroughfare. That rail line would then travel adjacent to Laney-Walker Boulevard Extension and then alongside the Bobby Jones Expressway extension into North Augusta.

Funding for both projects has yet to be awarded. Thursday's vote simply allows the relocation plans to proceed once money is approved.

But Jimmy Lester, a DOT board member who represents Augusta, said he'll fight for it.

"Certain times of the day, we're cut in half as a city," he said. "So, I'm very much in favor of a relocation."

Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3904 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Friday, September 5, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle