Pike County officials are celebrating the addition of cross arms at one of two railroad crossings near Johnston Station two years after lobbying for the improvements after train wrecks in the area killed a woman and smashed an 18-wheeler.
“I happened to see it just like all y’all did,” Pike County District 4 Supervisor Jake Gazzo, whose district includes the rail crossings, said of the improvements that are about two weeks old. “They did a good job. You can see the difference. It’s night and day.”
The safety improvements were added to the crossing on Dixie Springs Road in the shadow of the Dixie Packaging plastics plant.
In November 2020, a truck was leaving the plant but failed to move its trailer from the tracks when a train hit it. That incident happened a month after a mother of three, Jelisha Brumfield, was killed when a train hit her SUV at the crossing just north of there on Carruth Road.
With the Dixie Springs Road improvements, Carruth Road remains the only unprotected rail crossing on a public road in Pike County.
Gazzo said county supervisors and other local officials lobbied hard for the crossing improvements.
“Obviously, we had the two accidents that happened pretty close together. That was major factor, and the amount of crossings here,” he said.
County Road Manager Wendell Alexander said the crossing’s proximity to Dixie Packaging and the amount of commercial truck traffic it produces was another factor.
“It helped out because you had a commercial business here,” he said.
The crossing is near the end of Dixie Springs Road at Johnston Station Road, and Alexander noted that there is “barely” enough room for a semi-truck hauling a standard 53-foot trailer to clear the tracks just before stopping at the end of the road.
“If they pull all the way down to the stop sign where they’re supposed to be they’ve got no problem,” he said.
Gazzo said cost is often the biggest obstacle to railroad crossing improvements, with the addition of crossing arms easily a six-figure job.
Then there’s the fact that crossing upgrades are in demand all over the state, making it a regional competition.
“it’s going to be the cost, and you think about statewide, you’re going up against the Gulf Coast and their crossings and traffic count as well as north Mississippi, so to get this done here in Summit it took the team all pushing,” Gazzo said. “It took roughly two years to get done, but obviously for the safety of the citizens of Pike County, it was much needed here.”
“Sam Mims was instrumental in helping us on this too, because he followed up and contacted (the Mississippi Department of Transportation), as well as the railroad on this project. We could not have done it without the teamwork of everybody on here.”
Gazzo said the improvements are crucial for the area, which has seen continuous population growth over the last two decades.
“This is the main crossing from the college all the way back, so you’ve got a lot more traffic than you think,” Gazzo said.
Alexander noted plans for a subdivision with 20 houses in the area will bring additional traffic.
While the Dixie Springs Road upgrades are welcome, Gazzo said he still gets asked if the county will ever replace the old railroad bridge on Guy Barkdull Road, and — much like railroad crossing improvements, it comes down to money.
The previous board of supervisors closed the timber bridge after it failed more rigorous bridge inspection protocols that were put in place, and replacing it was too expensive.
“Anytime that our county engineer comes up with grant funding potentials, I’ll put that high on the list,” Gazzo said. “It hasn’t been approved at this time, but we are seeking opportunities to further that project.”
