CSX strikes again locking up and parking a train across several Apex crossings

A CSX crew locked up their train engine and walked off the job leaving a line of train cars blocking three street crossings in the heart of Apex at 4:00 AM Friday April 23rd until around 9:00 AM in the morning. Never mind that this left the neighborhoods blocked with residents not aware they could not cross the tracks at these streets. Never mind that should anyone need emergency help that police or EMS personnel did not know they could not cross at these streets if they got an emergency call.

What's missing from this report is that this is not the first time CSX has done this in Apex. From time to time a train is left parked near the same crossings blocking traffic in the same manner. It is a simple , but necessary, courtesy to the community for the train to be moved a few feet to leave the Chatham Street crossing unblocked. They could also have pushed the train all the way past the Tingen Road crossing and left it parked until a new crew could have been brought on scene.

CSX crews routinely leave engines parked at the Center Street train depot with engines idling all night and all weekend causing a constant engine noise problem and venting diesel fumes into the neighborhoods with no concern to the health and welfare of the neighbors of the entire downtown area.

Leaving crossings blocked for a few minutes during busy traffic times is largely an inconvenience. But leaving a train parked and blocking three traffic crossings with no crew to move the train could easily lead to a crisis for a local resident needing police or EMS help while the crossings are blocked. The extra time needed to figure out the train is not going to move and then find an alternate route could make or break a life or death situation...

News & Observer

April 23, 2010

Staff Report

Train blocking 3 intersections removed

A train that was abandoned by its crew and left sitting on the railroad tracks where it blocked three roads in downtown Apex for several hours Friday morning was removed about 9 a.m. police said.

The train was left parked on the tracks about 4 a.m., and when police contacted CSX railroad officials, they were told the members of the crew had reached their limit of work hours, stopped the train, locked it up and left, Sgt. Greg Rhodes said.

A spokesman for the police department said that apparently CSX sent out another crew to move the train.

The train blocked Tingen Road, Moore Street and Chatham Street, police said. Rhodes said the three blocked intersections did not cause any traffic problems. Drivers figured out alternate routes on their own, he said. Read original report...

Center Street School Bus Accident in Apex

A Wake County school bus was hit by an auto on November 16, 2009, around 7:15 AM. Apex Police and Fire personnel quickly arrived to manage the incident and take care of the injured but the event didn't get any coverage by area news media.

An EMS team carried the auto driver away and the bus passengers were offloaded onto another school bus. It appeared the auto driver was the only person injured.

These State DOT provided traffic lights were replaced in 2009 but the intersection has only one left turn light (seen in photo) to control traffic turning left (east) from Mason Street onto Center Street. There are no turn lights for traffic turning onto Mason Street in either direction on Center Street or from South Mason Street turning west onto Center Street. This school bus accident could likely have been prevented had the Town of Apex and State of NC installed the missing turn lights to make the intersection safer. It's likely this was another cost saving plan implemented at the expense of driver's safety when the lights were upgraded this year. It is unfortunate the Town of Apex always responds that Center Street (and others like Salem Street) is owned by NC DOT and that Apex is not responsible for maintenance or concerns along the road.

There are many Apex intersections like this where short cuts have been taken at the expense of driver safety by omitting some of the turn light signals. To name a few intersections - Center and Mason, Hunter and Peakway, Hughes and NC55.

As always, you can make a difference by asking your Apex Town Manager and Town Council Members to address these issues.

It's always interesting when events like school bus accidents get wide coverage on TV news and in the paper except when they happen in Apex.

National Crime Report Map

A new national crime mapping service (crimereports.com) is now available including crimes in Apex, NC.

Click to view a current display of crimes in the Apex area and learn if any are in your neighborhood...

Got signs?

You would think the folks on the Town of Apex planning staff think all town residents are blind as a proverbial bat or are a bunch of dumb clucks.

Building a "bridge to nowhere" used a lot of dollars that could have been spent on a useful project like sidewalks in the older parts of town or the unfinished Villages of Apex park by the tracks on Hughes Street at Town Hall.

The new $207,000 pedestrian CSX track crossing between the Town's office complex and the Duncan Commons office building on Salem Street is so cluttered with signs that it distracts walkers from looking at what they are doing. There are even more signs not visible in this photo warning walkers to not trespass, stay off the tracks, etc.

This crossing in theory allows folks to park at the Town office complex and walk to downtown events and have a more direct path to the historic downtown area. Never mind that there is not a way to get to and from the Town office complex parking area after you cross the tracks. The $207,000 was spent on an impressive array of iron fencing, concrete and lots and lots of signs. And it includes a fenced in observation area that gives a great view of the CSX dumping grounds between the Town office complex and the CSX depot downtown.

Scary downtown Apex handicap parking space

Handicapped and in need of a parking space near Apex downtown stores?

The Town Planners have seen fit to provide only TWO handicap parking spaces anywhere near the stores along the Salem Street shopping area. You would think there are no handicap employees in the Planning Department or are unfamiliar with what it is like to be a handicapped driver or passenger.

This one is located in the small parking area across the street from Peak City Grill. For over a year it has had three holes the size of a gallon paint can right in the path of handicap drivers. No one knows why the holes were drilled. There is speculation it was to eventually put a railing by the parking space making it even smaller than a small car can fit into. The space is already so small it is difficult to park in and difficult for passengers to get out of the car on either side.

For the last year this has posed a major safety hazzard for anyone parking in this space.

If this is the only option for handicapped downtown parking it might pay to take your business elsewhere...

And don't you forget it

So you want to enter the parking lot at the Town of Apex Utilities department...

Don't dare drive over FIVE miles per hour or enter on your skateboard, bicycle, rollerblades or scooter!

Seems like the Town has gone overboard a bit here...

UNC roads not for walking

June, 2006 - Chapel Hill, NC

Are things at UNC really so bad the town of Chapel Hill has to warn folks about walking in the road?

Now that the endless construction has progressed and lanes have been marked off near the UNC campus, signs are apparently needed to warn folks to not walk in the road!

It would seem like that would be a no brainer, but then this is UNC...

Three-car accident at Apex intersection with no signal

Three cars collided - 10 people injured. Yet another accident takes it's toll at the intersection of Apex's Peakway and Old Raleigh Road. Town police closed down the roads for several hours in all directions due to severity of the accident until it could all be unraveled. All 10 people were taken to an area hospital for evaluation and treatment but only two were deemed to have "significant" injuries.

The intersection is one of those along the Apex Peakway where a stoplight was needed at the outset when the road was opened to public use a few years ago. Town planners say a light will be needed "someday" and then only when the State of North Carolina says one is needed and after surveys show enough cars travel the two roads to justify the cost. No matter that hundreds of cars travel these roads each day and that the number of accident continues to escalate.

This sort of comment is frequently made by Apex Town Officials when citizens say stoplights are needed at busy intersections or that left turn signals need to be added at the Town's many overloaded crossroads. When asked about a stoplight for the intersection where this latest accident occurred, the Town Manager only a few days before this very accident stated "We've already spent more money than we should on DOT's house. We cannot continue to do it." The official response from Town representatives often indicates that adding traffic lights and improving safety is not a high priority in Town business, or the State of North Carolina's.

Town Planners and Board of Commissioners are quick to jump on and approve new development projects, all in the name of gleaning increased tax revenues, but when it comes to building enough roads and insuring there are adequate traffic signals and controls, the common practice is to get a road built, then worry about adequate traffic control and safety later after many accidents have taken place. Even later when traffic signals are added, needed left turn signals are frequently left out, claiming "the town shouldn't have to pay for stoplights and controls when it's the State's responsibility."

Perhaps a clean slate of Commissioners and Town Planners may be needed to ensure that necessary infrastructure is added to keep up with the pace of growth. The existing groups seem to be behind the times and not able to adequately plan for recent phenomenal growth or even be up to the task of keeping existing streets in safe condition.

The following report was issued August 13, 2007, about the most recent accident within the Town's borders...

News and Observer
August 13, 2007
Staff Reports

Three-car accident injures 10 in Apex

APEX - An intersection was closed for more than 2 1/2 hours after a three-car collision sent 10 people to the hospital.

Police said that about 6:20 p.m., a Ford Expedition, a Toyota Matrix and a Chevrolet Venture collided at the intersection of Old Raleigh Road and Apex Peakway.

Authorities shut down the intersection until shortly before 9 p.m.

Of the 10 taken to the hospital, police said that two were seriously injured.

Details of the accident and the names of the drivers and injured were not available Sunday.

Apex police said they plan to file charges against one of the drivers. Original report...