LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Stephanie Lyons-Powell stood in her front yard in Fairdale earlier this month and watched a CSX train slowly grind to a stop, blocking the only way in and out for residents of Bountiful Way. It was 5:22 p.m., and the train sat for more than 40 minutes until she said it began moving at 6:03 p.m.
It's not an unusual occurrence. Lyons-Powell estimates that a train stops there two to three times every day.
"If something happens — God forbid, like a heart attack or a house on fire — fire trucks can't get back there. Ambulances can't get back there," she said. "So those people are not in a safe situation."
Frustrated during an hours-long blockage last year, she reported the incident to the Federal Railroad Administration. Her complaint was one of 388 in Kentucky included in a public portal the agency launched in 2019 to track blocked crossings across the U.S.
The website provides a snapshot of places where trains frequently stop. By no means is it comprehensive, but it sheds light on areas in Kentucky and southern Indiana where blocked crossings can cause problems for first responders, delay people trying to get to work and school and sometimes lead to people climbing over trains, according to a WDRB News review.
WDRB analyzed data for 2022 and the first six months of 2023 and found:
There were 563 complaints submitted for crossings in Kentucky and those in Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Jackson counties in Indiana during that 18-month period
Fewer reports of blocked crossings in Kentucky were made during the first six months of 2023 (99), compared with the same period from 2022 (158)
But there were more reports in Jefferson County during that period: 39 in 2023, compared with 32 in 2022
Overall, the most complaints submitted between January 2022 and July 2023 — 35 — involved a CSX crossing at Lucas Lane in Anchorage in eastern Jefferson County
"This is happening way too often!" one person said. Another wrote: "Blocked 2 intersections, Lucas and Chamberlain for longer than an hour-can't believe this is legal-safety reasons."
Jordan Yuodis, spokesman for Anchorage Middletown Fire & EMS, said the presence of trains is the "first thing on their mind" when crews respond.
"A lot of times, we can go around cars. We can go around barricades. We can move things. Cars will move out of the way," he said. "But one thing you can't move is a train."
A stopped train blocks the crossing on E. Oak Street in Shelby Park, August 11, 2023 (WDRB photo).
In Kentucky, Central Avenue in Pewee Valley had the next highest number of complaints with 26. Matt York, chief of the Pewee Valley Fire Protection District, said there have been several "low-priority" runs recently that have been delayed.
Pewee Valley has agreements with the Anchorage Middletown and South Oldham departments to handle emergencies if the tracks are blocked, York said, but he worries about two schools and hundreds of homes on the other side of La Grange Road from the main fire station.
"I do strongly believe it's a matter of time before the train is an issue," he said.
Pewee Valley Mayor Bob Rogers said CSX officials have promised him in the past that, in an emergency, it would "cut and break the train" so vehicles could cross the tracks.
He said a recent stoppage prompted him to seek help from U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office as well as from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's administration.
"It was really bad," Rogers said. "It got a lot better. And then here in the last week or so we had an instance where they blocked it."
In southern Indiana, two crossings in Georgetown in Floyd County were the targets of the most complaints: 31 at Tucker Road and 21 at Baylor Wissman Road.
It's a "nuisance" when the tracks are blocked, said Oral "Bill" Banta, chief of the Georgetown Township Fire District, but he said there haven't been delays to emergency runs that caused serious problems.
"Obviously, that cuts us off from a portion of our district, and we have to take back roads into it," he said. "So it really limits our response time."
In 2021, Banta said, local officials spoke with Norfolk Southern about the crossing at Baylor Wissman Road, where trains occasionally didn't pull up far enough before stopping. Since then, he said, those trains usually keep the crossing clear.
"Most often, they have done that," he added. "But there's been a few occasions where they failed to do that."
Meanwhile, local officials have little power to address the stoppages. A Kentucky law letting local governments fine railroad companies when trains block crossings has been paused since 2020 after a judge ruled that federal law took precedent. That lawsuit involved citations issued by elected sheriffs in Pulaski and McCreary counties in southern Kentucky.
Now, Kentucky and Indiana are among 18 states that have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an unrelated case and rule that states indeed have the power to enact such laws. The high court hasn't yet scheduled a hearing.
In Pulaski County in southcentral Kentucky, residents of Science Hill are used to blocked crossings, Mayor Mike Hall said. He estimates traffic is stymied "several times a week" because of stopped trains on the rail line that largely separates the residential part of the city on the west side and the business corridor to the east.
"We understand that there's those times they have to stop," Hall said. "But long periods is what's really, really aggravating to the people and causes a safety issue."
Complaints filed with the federal railroad agency include one from April 2022, when a Norfolk Southern train was idled for more than two hours, according to the database. The complaint says, "This was a ridiculous situation with all three entrances to Science Hill KY blocked!"
Hall remembers a "major, major backup" that day that took up to 40 minutes to drive around.
Other Science Hill complaints observed people climbing over trains and first responders unable to cross. One person reported, "Train was there for at least 45 minutes, making me late to work. No other way out of Science Hill without driving 20 to 30 minutes out of the way."
A train blocks Bountiful Way at South Park Road, August 9, 2023 (WDRB photo.)
CSX did not respond to emailed questions about how it uses the portal.
Norfolk Southern makes every effort to "avoid inconveniencing communities with a stopped train," spokesman Connor Spielmaker said in a statement. "Trains have to stop for a number of reasons, including congestion on the tracks or in yards, coordinating traffic with other railroads, federally-mandated crew rest time, power outages affecting train signal devices, or mechanical issues."
He said Norfolk Southern also works with communities to find ways to solve blocked crossings, such as closing crossings and building overpasses where they make sense.
The 2021 infrastructure law passed by Congress requires the Federal Railroad Administration to continue operating the website and use data from it to do outreach with communities, emergency responders and railroads.
An agency spokeswoman said federal officials have had talks with local and railroad officials in Hammond, Indiana, near Chicago, but she didn't say in an email if any other Kentucky or Indiana cities were included.
The legislation also requires a report to Congress — by December 2022 — that must show crossings that are frequently blocked and result in long waits. The spokeswoman said that report is being finalized and should be sent to House and Senate committees "in the upcoming months."
Back in Fairdale, it's not just the entrance to Bountiful Way that is often blocked. About a mile to the north the same tracks cross over Fairdale Road. That intersection had 12 complaints in the federal database.
Basham Construction and Rental Co. Inc., a utility contractor that works with public utilities like Louisville Water Co. and the Metropolitan Sewer District, deals with a stopped train there at least once a day, said Brent Basham, the company's president.
When Fairdale Road is blocked, he said, crews must drive about six to seven minutes out of their way to get to the other side — while sometimes the company's vehicles get "pinned in" and can't turn around.
"There's been times," he said, "where we've sat there for an hour trying to get across the tracks."
There were 563 complaints submitted for crossings in Kentucky and those in Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Jackson counties in Indiana during an 18-month period.
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