Amen!

This has to be fixed. It almost prevented me from residing in boulevard heights due to potential damage to my car

Agreed, this is a menace in our neighborhood.

This long standing problem needs to be corrected.

Agreed! This is a huge issue and needs to be corrected

You can tell immediately whether a driver is familiar with the area or not; neighbors know that the angles and disrepair of the grates mean you need to slow down to about 5mph, newbies and visitors try to sail through at 15+mph and get punished for their ignorance. It is a car menace.

It's killing my car........

I just noticed that someone else posted about this over a year ago, and it's STILL NOT FIXED!! Here is a link to the other SeeClickFix report: http://en.seeclickfix.com/issues/24325-huge-killer-hole-at-rr-tracks-all-trafficust-slow-to-a-crawl

I've lived in Boulevard Heights for 6 years and I don't drive over the tracks anymore due to damage from them. I've reported this problem countless times for 6 years and NOTHING has been done about it. Please see that this gets fixed.

It should also be noted that Atlanta's Fire Station #10 is located 1 mile north of this extremely bad crossing. Almost daily, the fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles, have to cross these tracks on emergency calls in which their speed has to be significantly reduced in order to cross the tracks. It is likely this crossing inhibits response time to emergencies. It is one of the worst RR crossings in all of Atlanta!

Kasim would like you to see these as a speed deterrent, not a defect.

It should be fixed. And in the interim, there should be a sign put up telling people who don't know just how much they need to slow down! This is a public disgrace. No other word for it.

I avoid going over them unless it is absolutely necessary. I have used them for directions to out of town friends. Drive South on Boulevard, until you get air born, then turn left upon landing.

I would argue they are also a safety hazard, as people swerve into the oncoming lane to try and avoid driving over the severe pothole-likeness of the grate depression. Also, it disrupts purpose of having two lanes for traffic flow, as most people that are aware of the issue drive in the right lane and then quickly change to the left lane if they wish to turn on the first road to left. And, as has already been mentioned, it has to be doing damage to shocks, axles, etc. It's ridiculous.

Sounds like a good opportunity for a gorilla art project - lots of bright colors all over the crossing bring attention to the rails from hell. Might even get the attention of the AJC. Set a date and time a few weeks in advance and we'll each bring a spare gallon of paint. Cancel if any rain is forecast since the creek is down the hill.

BTW, I'm just kidding. The best way to recycle your paint is at the city's annual Eco-Collection Day each spring at either Turner Stadium or Atlantic Station.

The RR crossing and the entire street should be fixed. That section of Boulevard has been ignored long enough. Fix the RR crossing and repave our street.

I have been living in this area 9 years; and yes, the Boulevard roadway between I-20 and the Federal Prison needs much attention. Our tax dollars should be doing something to improve the roadway. At a minimum, the Boulevard roadway should be on a well-publicized list for upgrading in the near future; if it is already on such a list, then we need to be made aware.

It is unacceptable that the road has been dismantled for sewer upgrades--I assume--but not re-paved in a decent manner. It is embarrassing to have out of town visitors to have to travel down such an awful roadway year after year after year.

I've resorted to going off-road around them. and i'm not the only one. I drive a Sentra, and it says a lot that i'm wiling to drive that small car off-road to avoid the tracks. The rubble on the right is smoother than the road. Terrible. F.

The only. Business that I know of that still use this spir is the concrete plant on Gleenwood LaFarge. If they would only help with this it is only right

This is a horrible portion of the road!! I will never forget the first time I went over the tracks nearly 7 years ago - looked like a scene out of Dukes of Hazard (yes, I was airborne and my husband's head hit the top of the car!) Every time I drive over it, I know a piece of my car dies a little. We love having people over to our house, but hate that those that drive out have to be fore-warned of the treacherous tracks. It should not be this difficult to fix; just do it right the first time! We are (significant) tax paying individuals and would love to have a road that matches.

I did the same thing the very first time I drove over those tracks. I had no idea what happened due to the fact that is was 10 pm. It felt like the first hill on a roller coaster that ran over large pot holes on the way down. My then dog never wanted to go on car rides after that!

For years I have driven over the tracks on the outside lane (both directions) because the inside lanes are in such poor condition. Past repairs have never lasted.

The rr tracks are awful on your vehicle. You have to almost come to a complete stop to pass them safely.

I have to chime in and agree in saying that the damage to my vehicle has been very costly. Between the potholes and RR tracks, I have had to pay for re-alignments quite often. At $100 bucks a pop, these add up. Also, these issues wreak havoc on the struts and springs in the car!

This issue is being addressed by the City of Atlanta. For follow up information please telephone 404 330 6333 and reference ticket#
124131

That ticket # isn't right. I called public works and the woman said their numbers start with 7. This isn't being handled by the City of Atlanta and I think they can only fix the drain grate. I think the railroad has to fix the track portion.

Zach J

The railroad will need to work with the city to get permits. Boulevard was closed for several days when repairs were made several years ago. More recently the street was closed for one day.

The cement company has other options for their sand delivery. Their new cement facility is no longer dependent on the rails for sand delivery. Now would be an excellent time to discontinue rail delivery of the sand to avoid rail repair costs. If you contact the rail road owners or cement company, please let them know the entire community is anxious to move forward with the beltline during the current work shortage.

Unfortunately, this problem still isn't fixed. CSX has done nothing to smooth out the railroad tracks and the work that the City of Atlanta performed didn't resolve the problem. The center two lanes are still unusuable, and the outside lanes still require going less than 5 miles per hour. This is a main throughfare for emergency vehicles, including the fire station just 1.5 miles north of these tracks. The fire trucks also are required to slow to a crawl. It is annoying that normal folks are required to drive over the grates and tracks at slow speeds. It is UNACCEPTABLE that emergency/rescue vehicles are required to.

I've had to repair my car twice, due to this railroad track.

Agreed. This rail road crossing is dangerous and needs a permanent fix.

Why is the city so lazy about this? They've been told that their fixes only last a few weeks, yet we get the same fix time and time again. This has got to stop!!!

One of the grates here has now sunk about 6 inches. It is an awful situation that needs immediate attention!

This railroad track has damaged many vehicles and is severe need of repair.

This problem as been here for so long. Seems like someone would PLEASE get it fixed........

If the issue weren't so serious, it would almost be laughable. Months ago, this section of Boulevard was brought to the attention of City of Atlanta and CSX officials; and CBS Atlanta News did an onsite story. Yet, the rail crossing and storm drain problems remain. It is a SAD statement that the concerted efforts, thus far, by SE Atlanta neighborhood leaders and residents, who've worked hard to bring attention to this rail crossing to have it PERMANANTLY fixed, have been futile. Somebody is "passing the buck" at the taxpayers expense and we should all be outraged! It's corporate and city government in-action at its worst!

Please help get a permanent fix!

Fix the tracks right!

It seems that the city would fix to keep it safe for their emergency vehicles that have to go over the tracks time after time. The other issue, has the tracks caused the emergency vehicles to not make it to a call in time?

Help resolve this with a comment, image or video...

Help resolve this with a comment, image or video...

This whole area needs to be fixed. Period

Re-copying my previous comments from when they were temporarily "fixed" before:

I would argue they are also a safety hazard, as people swerve into the oncoming lane to try and avoid driving over the severe pothole-likeness of the grate depression. Also, it disrupts purpose of having two lanes for traffic flow, as most people that are aware of the issue drive in the right lane and then quickly change to the left lane if they wish to turn on the first road to left. And, as has already been mentioned, it has to be doing damage to shocks, axles, etc. It's ridiculous.

And, adding: As a resident of Atlanta for now one-and-one-half years and haling from the Midwest, the City of Atlanta infrastructure issues are APPALLING - particularly considering that comparably higher amount of taxes I pay in this state compared to my former Midwest residencies, where an issue like this would have NEVER persisted as it has.

Someone closed this issue; not sure why, re-opening.

This track-crossing has damaged many vehicles; and is in dire need of a permanent repair.

Is this still an issue? 6 years old now

I was unable to locate an open request for this issue so I initiated service request #1120798147 so we will be investigating as soon as possible. Keep that request number to check the status of this issue.

Can someone in the neighborhood confirm that the fix is adequate? I don't see any details in the ATL311 issue page but it is showing resolved (link: https://www.atl311.com/?page_id=103&SRNumber=1120798147&Email=)

Service Request #:1120798147
SR Opened:05/23/2018
SR Closed:06/06/2018
Status:Closed
Sub Status:Complete
Department:DPW
Area:Street Operations
Sub Area:Asphalt Repair
Solution Topic:Potholes
SLA Response Time:5

The request was closed and turned over to CSX Railroads. They can be reached at 1-800-232-0144.

CSX will do nothing and 311 will do nothing. The road is not repaired, nor will it be in the next few years. This is what your city thinks of you, SE ATL. Shame on you for wanting better.

ATL311, you *do* realize CSX doesn't own that property anymore, correct? CoA purchased it this year.

And ATL311, here's the article in case you need a refresh on what CoA is doing. By the way, as of last week, the railroad crossing sign was on all day, every day, and someone needs to turn that off. https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2018/03/city-acquires-property-for-atlanta-beltlines-southside-trail-in-26-million-deal/

It was nice of the city to put money into their ATL 311 charade, rather than into something meaningful like repairing these god-forsaken stretches of road. Keep kicking the can!

Hi Jason and Austin! The Department of Public Works went out and closed this request with notes stating they reached out to a Chris at CSX Railroads and they turned it over to them and provided that phone number. ATL311 does not go out, we place the requests which are then handled by the responsible city department and in this case that department handed it over to CSX. Also, the last sentence of the article you attached states "The corridor will remain closed while CSX works to remove the rails and the Kimley-Horn design team begins detailed engineering and site investigations." Therefore, CSX will have to remove the railroad. The City of Atlanta also does not handle railroad crossing signals so you should inform CSX of that as well.

Why are citizens expected to play the role of Project Manager on behalf of the city?

Austin, as citizens in a democracy, we're responsible for holding our elected officials (and their administrations + service departments) to a high standard, and to communicate issues to them as we see them, and sometimes to follow up to ensure proper closure. It's not easy keeping up with all these issues, but let's push for improvement however we can, and if things don't get routed to the proper people or departments, let's call it out either through ATL311, to the media, or to our elected officials if need be. ATL311 has really stepped up their game with engaging with issues citizens are reporting, and I respect that. Let's nurture this relationship and keep it constructive :)

ATL311: Sorry if it's not clear, but the problem is NOT the railroad tracks. It's the city's street drains on the north side of the railroad tracks!! Public Works surely understands that's the problem - they're out there to fix the drains at least once every other year when they cave in.

Since this request was originally submitted in 2011 and to make sure we submit the appropriate request, can you please state exactly what you are requesting and provide updated details.

We've been fighting with the City and CSX for that long trying to get a permanent fix, even going as far as having them shamed by Harry the Pothole guy on TV. Every fix is temporary, never lasting more than 8 months. The primary issue is in the first couple of sentences of this, I think, but the word TRACKS instead of CROSSING is causing confusion, so let's say this: "The paving an drain grates are extremely uneven and grates are constantly fall in, creating a moat several inches deep spanning the entire road. You can see scrape marks everywhere from cars bottoming out. We need the grates and paving leading up to (or exiting, depending on direction) fixed. The northbound lane has had the grates caved in for almost 5 months."

Ok, thanks for clarifying! I just submitted service request # 1123574030 to Watershed Management so they can go and check out these storm grates. I will keep an eye on the work order and keep you posted with any updates.

I just checked service request # 1123574030 and it was closed with a note saying that the crew arrived on site, found no issues with the grates and that they are all open and flowing. I can definitely follow back up on this, could you provide pictures of the problem? That could help a lot!

Drains are definitely open! So incredibly open your wheel sinks into them a good 4" - 8" as you pass over if you don't swerve to just the right spot. I'll try to take pics tomorrow on my way out and update again. Frankly I'll say: I'm shocked Public Works is giving so much grief on this, it's blatantly obvious what the problem is if you're standing on the south side of the tracks looking northbound. Neighbors aren't just on this website trolling Public Works and CoA. Even rescue vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances need to reduce to 5mph to go through this crossing. To that effect, every time Public Works closes this case while it remains blatantly unsolved, City of Atlanta is denying us services and setting itself up for a lawsuit no court of law could possibly toss out as "frivilous" - those are just the kinds of cases CoA typically loses and pays millions of our taxpayer dollars towards... all because someone at Public Works is being lazy or stubborn.

Thank you for providing those details. I just reached out to the inspector that was assigned to the service request to let him know this information. When I receive a response I will let you know and I look forward to any pictures you can provide.

Sorry for the delay, my 9-to-5 turned into a 7-to-6 today. First pic - this is a side view of the grates across all four lanes. Looks pretty normal, but you can see the inside lanes on either side of the yellow center stripe have multiple concrete and asphalt repairs from the last 7-8 years of us complaining about the grates when they fall in. They've been repaired poorly so many times the grates are way out of whack. SCF only allows one photo per post, so I'm replying three more times after this with better pics.

This is the northbound main lane of travel. The grates are falling in, and there's a major 6-12" dip in the road if measured with a flat surface. The last attempt at a repair left it in poor shape. One grate has fallen in worse than the other.

Just to give some perspective here, here's a straight line from either side of the main lane of travel. Notice the left side of the left-hand grate is down 2-3" as-is. Everything goes downhill from there. Notice the patch in front and behind the grate slopes down into the hole. It's nasty and every 3rd or 4th car bottoms out.

This is the southbound lane. Grates don't appear as bad, what's really bad is the uneven mounds of asphalt on either side, you drop into the grate, then get smacked up on the other side. Notice the road is disintegrating south of the grate, which doesn't help, it's a series of 2-4" deep potholes. One of the grates is physically broken.

Great news! The grates should be reset within the next 10 business days.

Thanks, ATL311! As an FYI so you're aware for other cases and progress, the rails west of this crossing are in process of removal. They should have the rails fully removed up to where they cross Boulevard within the next 7-10 business days at the current pace. Strong potential we'll need Public Works to patch over/smooth out the cuts in the road the tracks were passing through unless they're passing over the tracks in that location. I expect someone will probably plug an update through NextDoor for that when the time comes.

Well, on a positive note, Public Works is currently repairing the northbound grates. Looks like they've dug out whatever was there and are installing steel boxes under, possibly.

I was just informed that repairs to the grates were completed Sunday evening.

Northbound lane repairs complete. Southbound wasn't touched.

Jason, just to clarify before I send this back over, was the southbound grates not repaired or was the southbound lanes not repaired?

They did apply a small bit of asphalt patch on the southbound lane. No work was done to the grates on the innermost (closest to yellow stripe) grates to resolve them.

Thank you for letting us know. I just forwarded this information over to the repair team.

Hello there, I was just informed that the southbound grates did not need to come out or be reset because they are on grade. Only the grates on the northbound were raised because they were below grade.

I think most residents in Boulevard Heights, Benteen Park and Chosewood Park would disagree with that assessment, but ... this is probably the best we're going to get out of the city. Thanks again for all of your help getting the northbound lane addressed finally.