DE PERE (NBC 26) — Grant Street has been closed since mid-October as repairs are made to the CN railroad crossing. The project is expected to finish early this month.
- Locals say improvements to the railroad crossing have been needed.
- The railroad company replaced the tracks, then Brown County immediately began pavement repairs.
- Grant Street has been closed since mid-October for the project.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Brickhouse Craft Burgers and Brews is one of the closest businesses to the Grant Street Railroad Crossing.
Owner, Troy Metzler, has owned the restaurant for 12 years. He also attended nearby St. Norbert College, so he’s crossed the Grant Street tracks countless times.
“The railroad was pretty rough," he said. "Definitely had to slow down to go over it, because it was really very rough, especially if you had a trailer or anything like that, you’d have to take it easy over those tracks.”
CN, the company that owns the railroad, started construction in mid-October, then Brown County immediately began road repair work of its own.
Grant Street has been closed since CN began construction on Oct. 16 and is expected to be closed through Nov. 6. The Street will reopen after Brown County completes its repairs.
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“De Pere has been asking CN for a while to replace the crossing," Brown County Highway Department director Chris Hardy said about the project. "The crossing is uneven, causes traffic to slow down a lot, it’s a very rough ride.”
Hardy said the County had to coordinate with CN to plan the road repairs.
“We’re dealing with the railroad, which is its own entity and they have their own safety protocol; we have to follow their protocol," he said. "So it's easier when they're doing work, for us to do work with them at the same time."
Metzler said the construction has been a slight inconvenience, but he's happy to see the improvements.
“As a business owner, you definitely dread it happening, but knowing that it has to happen because it’s important to the community to have good roads, and it’s a long time coming," he said. "I’m looking forward to driving over the tracks in a few weeks and being like, oh okay, that’s what it needed."
