Mayor names the six railroad crossings he wants closed in Biloxi

Mayor Andrew ‘FoFo” Gilich put out his list Tuesday of the six CSX railroad crossings he thinks should be closed.

The proposed crossings are all east of Porter Avenue, and Gilich said they are the most dangerous. They include:

▪ Nixon Street

▪ Holley Street

▪ Irriquois Street

▪ Keller Avenue

▪ Dorries Street

▪ Querens Avenue

A special meeting was called for March 21 following the 1:30 p.m. meeting to discuss the crossings with the Biloxi Council.

The city has 29 crossings, 21 of them in East Biloxi, and six of them are unprotected with no safety gates, Gilich said. For him it’s an issue of safety.

“I personally have known three people who have died in car-train collisions,” he said. “I know of milk spilled on the tracks, shrimp spilled on the tracks and most recently, Pepsi Cola spilled on the tracks. It’s a safety issue.”

For Councilman George Lawrence, cost also figures into the list. Biloxi agreed to CSX’s requirement to close six railroad crossings to get two new ones on roads the city wants to build — the Popp’s Ferry extension from Pass Road to U.S. 90 in West Biloxi, and the Pine Street connector that would complete the traffic loop around East Biloxi.

Lawrence asked why the city doesn’t use Oak Street, just west of Pine, as the connecting road since it’s already built and would be less expensive than the $25 million estimated to build Pine Street into a four-lane road.

“We don’t have the money to fund Pine Street,” Lawrence said.

Gilich said Biloxi doesn’t have enough funds yet to complete Popp’s Ferry either, but the city needs to work toward getting these roads built.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Mayor names the six railroad crossings he wants closed in Biloxi."