Deadly crossing to get upgrade
Three teens were killed at Preble County intersection - by Angelle Haney Dayton Daily News
Jackson Twp., Preble County - A railroad crossing in Jackson Twp, where three teenagers were killed in June will be upgraded, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The PUCO approved a construction order Thursday that allows the Ohio Rail Development Commission to direct Norfolk Southern Corp. to install flashing lights and roadway gates at the crossing at Westville Road in Preble County. The crossing was marked only with crossbucks - white wooden signs that form an "X" - at the time of the June 12 accident.
Cody Rose, 18, of Gratis; Ricky Dale Venters, 18 of Camden; and Belinda Sue "Benji" Jacquest, 17, of Camden were killed when a Norfolk Southern train collided with their 1992 Oldsmobile. The car caught fire and was pushed by the train for a mile and a half.
"I'm glad to see it done," Ricky Venter's grandfather, Ed Callahan, said. "If it'd been back on the first of June, those kids would still be alive." The Preble Shawnee High School students were returning from a shopping trip in nearby Richmond, Ind.
Eaton police Capt. Mike Simpson said, "From the standpoint of our department, this is a very positive development." Among the county's 45 public railroad crossings, only the Scott Street crossing, near West Manchester, has no warning signs or devices. Oh Ohio's 5,300 railroad crossings, 150 received upgrades in 2001. Upgrades are prioritized based on factors such as the volume of automobile traffic, train speed and accidents, PUCO spokesman Matt Butler said.
"Generally, when there's a fatality, a crossing will get selected in the following year," Butler said. He said the Westville crossing made the grade unusually fast. According to the PUCO's grade crossing Web site, 30 trains pass over Westville Road every day.
The cost of design and installation is shared among federal and state programs, and then the railroad company is responsible for the cost of the crossing's upkeep, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said. The railroad has 90 days to submit a proposed design and cost estimates to PUCO, and work must be completed within a year.
"We work constantly with the ORDC and PUCO to ensure crossing safety," Husband said. PUCO is responsible for evaluating a crossing's need for an upgrade and also administering the State Grade Crossing Protection Fund, established to help defray some of the cost to the public.
An upgrade with lights and gates typically costs $150,000, Butler said. Norfolk Southern Corp. operates 35 of the at-grade crossings in Preble County, where traffic is most likely to come into contact with trains. Of those, 22 have crossbucks, lights and gates and 10 have only crossbucks.
The PUCO is still reviewing authorization of another crossing upgrade in Preble County, this one at Oxford-Gettysburg Road, where a car-train collision July 30 killed three men.
Daniel Pinna 
