Railroad Crossing

At 10:30 on a Sunday night in May, it's hard to spot 42-year-old quadriplegic Alan Downer as he steers his battery-powered wheelchair 3 1/2 miles home from church along a desolate curve of Hollins Ferry Road in Southwest Baltimore. Downer has made this trip almost two dozen times but it still unnerves him: He must cross five sets of railroad tracks, face dogs that chase him, go through dangerous neighborhoods. He first drummed up the courage to wheel himself to his West Baltimore home four years ago. He figured it was better than sitting helplessly and having his mother worry.

MONDAY night's fatal Amtrak train derailment underlines the importance of ensuring that all at-grade crossings are equipped with up-to-date safety and warning devices. As federal investigators examine the causes of the train-truck crash, in which more than a dozen people were killed, they must also focus on the adequacy of railroad warning signals throughout the country.Fortunately, this is not a problem on the Washington-New York line, where high-speed service will begin late this year. The route has no at-grade crossings, though Amtrak must make safety improvements on 13 such crossings between New Haven, Conn.

The railroad crossing on Taneytown's main thoroughfare, East Baltimore Street, will be closed for construction from 7 p.m. tomorrow to noon Monday.The State Highway Administration and Maryland Midland Railway Co. timed the project to reduce its impact on weekday commuters and on tractor-trailer traffic that uses the street daily. Route 140, known as Baltimore Street in Taneytown, is the heavily traveled link between major routes to Frederick, Gettysburg, Pa., and Baltimore.A detour route that will be in effect during the construction is designed primarily for heavy trucks that side streets in Taneytown cannot handle, said highway administration traffic engineer Donald Distance.

CORTLANDT, N.Y. - For decades, anglers along the Hudson River have been drawn to the wrong side of the tracks - the side with the water on it. They've risked fines and arrest for unlawfully crossing the railroad tracks, just to get to the best fishing spots.But John Cronin has taken steps to change that.Giving the Metro-North Commuter Railroad fair warning, he had planned to cross the tracks to go fishing. His goal: to get attention for being arrested, so he could challenge the railroad's right to block access to the river.

Federal and Howard County traffic officials met in Elkridge yesterday to test the regraded railroad crossing where a MARC passenger train crashed into a tractor-trailer that became stuck last fall.Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, CSX Corp. and the Howard County traffic department pulled another, similarly loaded tractor-trailer across the railroad tracks at Hanover Road near Elkridge.The road had been repaved and elevated to make it approximately the same height as the tracks.

A PERILOUS situation confronts many who love the great outdoors near the tiny village of Ashland just north of Cockeysville.There, the Northern Central Railroad Trail winds through scenic woods and beckons many a bicyclist and hiker to wander along the 20-some-mile path through northern Baltimore County.But danger lurks among the robins and evergreens. As the trail crosses Paper Mill Road, traffic whizzing by at -- and above -- the posted 40-mph speed limit threatens to slam into the nature lovers ambling through.

State police closed Route 140 for six hours yesterday after a five-vehicle accident that involved three tractor-trailers west of Taneytown, near the Frederick County line.A tractor-trailer driven by Ronald M. Stottlemyer, 50, of Sabillasville jackknifed while braking to avoid a car, which had slowed to turn into a store parking lot about 9 a.m. The car was driven by Mary E. Long, 76, of Taneytown.The rig was struck by an eastbound tractor-trailer driven by William J. Cole, 40, of Duncansville, Pa. Cole's truck veered off the road and struck an unoccupied parked car.Police said the first truck continued west, struck Long's car and then was hit from behind by a third tractor-trailer, driven by Edward C. Portner, 56, of Thurmont.

Motorists complaining about a bumpy railroad crossing in downtown Westminster should find smoother driving this year -- on concrete "tubs" that have been used in the West for years.The work at the crossing on Railroad Avenue, just east of Main Street, will be done by Maryland Midland Railway Co. Inc. of Union Bridge.The job probably will be done in late summer or early fall, and could be finished in a weekend."They're going to tear out what's there, and it will be all new stuff: precast concrete panels," said Robert J. Herstein, the State Highway Administration's team leader of statewide studies -- a sort of catchall department that includes railroad crossings.

IF THE TOWN of Hampstead wants to block construction of North Carroll Farms Section 4 subdivision, it will have to do so without riding the rails.And that wouldn't be a bad idea for the town, where the politics of growth have resulted in conflicting positions with each change in political leadership. In its current legal challenge to the 220-unit development, Hampstead and several citizens claim there were problems in the process followed by the former town planning commission that approved the expanded development.

With help from state Sen. Larry E. Haines, developer Martin K. P. Hill has persuaded the state Department of Transportation to remove a long-standing obstacle to construction of a highway railroad crossing that is vital for completion of his North Carroll Farms IV project in Hampstead.Last month's action removes the condition that a railroad crossing at Greenmount Church Road be closed before Hill may build another crossing at Farm Woods Lane to create the main access to his planned 220-unit development.