Thursday Afternoon Update: CSX Railroad Crossing Closures

November 14, 2024

Here is a Thursday afternoon update on the CSX railroad crossing closures in Escambia County

According to Escambia County officials:

  • 10 Mile Road — will reopen by Thursday night
  • East Kingsfield Road — will reopen Friday morning, but will be closed again on Monday for what should be one day to complete work
  • Old Chemstrand Road — will reopen early Friday morning.

Previous information:

Escambia County officials said temporary closures will be constructed on Woodbury Circle (the only entrance into Cantonment Heights), and Becks Lake Road (only entrance to that area). Officials said CSX has not yet committed to a temporary crossing for Countri Lane, which also has a single access point to those residences. A closure date for Woodbury, Becks Lake, and Countri has not yet been announced but is expected to be in the next few days.

Each CSX crossing in Escambia County will be, or has been closed. in project that started November 4. Each railroad crossing  may be closed for approximately 24-72 hours depending on the required work. Maintenance across the county is expected to be completed in December 2024.

Note: One major east-west corridor, Quintette Road, was not on the original CSX closure list.

Any additional information will be published as it becomes available.

Pictured: The railroad crossing was closed on North Barth Road in February 2022. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

51 Responses to “Thursday Afternoon Update: CSX Railroad Crossing Closures”

  1. E Wheeler on November 15th, 2024 10:09 am

    Thank you CSX for maintaining all the crossings in Pensacola/Cantonment.
    I understand there was an announcement on November 4 that these crossings would be closed and for all to find an alternative route. I live right in the middle of all the crossings and went around a mile or so to get where I needed to go. This was just for a few days and to hear some it was an eternity. We are all inconvenienced from time to time whether it has to do with roads, crossings, stores, many other reasons, but we all have to sacrifice a little to have better! Again, thank you CSX!

  2. Jeff on November 15th, 2024 9:31 am

    @stumpknocker … Law enforcement should have absolutely been present. They’re a “catch all” ?? … they’re who we call on for help. And help was needed in that situation.

  3. Eric on November 15th, 2024 9:28 am

    @stumpknocker Not sure why you would single out one person when multiple people thought law enforcement should have been involved, including me. That’s not unreasonable. Maybe they should let you organize it next time.

  4. Jessica on November 15th, 2024 6:52 am

    lol @stumpknocker …not sure why you were so offended by that… You’re missing the point… I never said they were the only answer but they easily coulda been involved and helped out in some way. They help direct traffic for all sorts of large events and it has always helped keep things moving/organized and safe… ppl had no clue where to go or what to do. It was chaos. Emergency vehicles couldn’t even get through. What if it was your family member in an ambulance or that needed help? I guess ole stumpknocker has all the answers and solutions to it all. Maybe you shoulda organized it all. Lol

  5. Stumpknocker on November 15th, 2024 1:17 am

    @Jessica lol have deputies directing traffic. Do you have a clue to how many it would take to cover an area this big? Pretty 60-80 per day. How bout since CSX owns the property and performing maintenance, make them supply the man power for such a project. Law enforcement is not the answer to every single problem, it’s become a catch all in the last 15 years.

  6. Danny Hall on November 14th, 2024 10:26 pm

    CSX RR are one of the wealthiest co.in the US and the world. To come into our town of Pensacola, no warning, no one single mention of road closures, no detour signs is absolutely pitiful. I seen an on tic toc of an elderly lady who was having a stroke and passed away because the EMT could not get to her in time held up by deadlocked traffic, she passed away. My God. I had no idea Tuesday on my way to work along with 10,000 other people doing the same and we search driving north and south only to the ind every crossing north and south was blocked as well. Really not one single sign until you got to the railroad tracks but we couldn’t get to the tracks because people were turning around and then after we’re block or two we were all deadlocked because there’s only a few ways to go so if you were on the north side of the tracks you were screwed. Thank you CSX, then I hope sincerely that you have to answer to this but then again I’m pretty sure from what I’ve seen from this you could care less. Why because you’re the railroad you could do whatever you want apparently.

  7. James on November 14th, 2024 9:44 pm

    It would be nice if CSX would state an actual time rather than “early Friday morning.” People reporting to work at Ascend cross around 4am. So is early considered 2am or 8am?

  8. Tom on November 14th, 2024 7:17 pm

    I’m not complaining because CSX is doing maintenance. I’m complaining because they closed every consecutive crossing in my area. I just got home and Nine Mile Road, Ten Mile Road, Roberts Road, Kingsfield Road, and Old Chemstrand Road, WERE ALL CLOSED AT THE SAME TIME. You can’t plan a route when THERE IS NO ROUTE. They could have done every other crossing one week, and the other ones the following week. Instead, the arrogant jerks just shut down the town. We need a law that says for routine maintenance they have to leave every other crossing open.

  9. Linda Shouse on November 14th, 2024 7:02 pm

    I knew about the closures. I live off Old
    Chemstrand. The only way you could have gotten out was to go down Chemstrand to Nine Mile. Traffic was backed up so bad they’re at Kingsfield that if you were coming from the plant you waited over 30 minutes to get to Tom Thumb. I think one road should have been left open for traffic I understand fixing the railroad is important and I’m all about that. But one way out would have been very nice for emergencies and people who needed to get to places on a timely manner. My school buses. I saw kids waiting I bet for an hour or longer. I’m sorry that’s just unacceptable.

  10. Billy bob on November 14th, 2024 6:39 pm

    A few signs further down road would have been helpful. Not just in front of the tracks. Don’t remember seeing any signs getting off the interstate onto airport the other night either. PCC could have been a huge help letting people cut through the road they bought years back. So much for a helping hand from them good Ole Christian community over there. I already had a 2hour drive home before I ran into that mess, so I was pretty salty about that culty move.

  11. Jessica on November 14th, 2024 3:50 pm

    I had to call the sheriffs office on my way home from work just to find out how to get home. And the lady that answered said they had been ”fielding calls” about that all day and told me I should have watched the news to know about the closures. I don’t watch the negative news and clearly all of the other 5,000 people around me didn’t watch it either. I told her maybe THEY should have had cops out there helping direct the chaotic traffic and helping people. And there should have been “road closure ahead” signs or detour signs. There was absolutely nothing, heading west on 9 mile, indicating that. Someone better get fired over this.

  12. Marie on November 14th, 2024 1:17 pm

    I understand the need to replace the railroad tracks. It’s overdue. However, to close down several crossings at once is absurd and to close all of these during the school season makes the frustration even worse. You have buses trying to transport these kids to school and parents and students that drive trying to navigate back roads just to get to school on time. Many students are arriving to school late because the traffic is so heavy or they get lost. I think the more sensible thing would have been to work on these within the hours of 11pm-6am and designate a few RR crossings at a time, not the entire county. If anyone (God forbid) has an emergency and needs an ambulance, the ambulance will have a problem getting to them in a timely manner. When it’s life or death, that’s too risky. This is all very frustrating for many but everyone, please be mindful and patient so that everyone gets to where they need to go safely.

  13. John on November 14th, 2024 12:37 pm

    It’s just like the people in government.
    Until there are meaningful consequences
    nothing will change. There was NO law
    enforcement present anywhere to assist
    TAX paying motorists.

  14. Diane Capers on November 14th, 2024 12:07 pm

    I see no mention of Eden Lane, Williams Ditch or Mckenzie but have seen piles of gravel and railroad ties at these crossings. Have I missed something?

  15. anne on November 14th, 2024 11:22 am

    Thank you CSX workers for fixing the railroad to avoid a derailment that could cause derailments causing toxic explosions that could cause a ton of medical problems for life!

  16. porter on November 14th, 2024 11:19 am

    This amount of disruption was very avoidable if communication had occurred properly. Don’t know who dropped the ball on that, CSX, the county or both. Either way, here’s the link to file complaint with the Federal Railroad Administration

    https://railroads.dot.gov/railroad-safety/federal-railroad-administration-alleged-violation-reporting-form

  17. Rick H. on November 14th, 2024 7:59 am

    The railroads are regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration. If you want or need to complain about CSX, contact the Federal Railroad Administration:

    EMAIL: frapa@dot.gov

    PHONE: 202-493-6024

  18. Phil on November 14th, 2024 7:38 am

    I think we all understand that CSX must do these improvements on their crossings. However, why must they do it during rush-hour? Schedule it to start at 11 PM and finish it by the morning rush. Yes some people will be inconvenienced then as well, but it won’t affect so many people.

  19. Nathan on November 14th, 2024 1:06 am

    This is absolutely ridiculous and frustrating. What is normally a 20 minute drive to school for me turned into a 3 hour nightmare of desperately trying to find a road that would have me cross over the tracks. Thanks a lot CSX. Your piss poor planning not only caused me but also my professor grief since I had to stay after class to make up for lost time. Closing 9 mile on top of other various back roads with no offering of alternative routes was insanity. I made a complaint with the town hall when I got back home because they are not innocent in this either for allowing this wonderful display of incompetence to happen. Shame on all of you, I hope you lose your jobs and never touch a project to plan again. How there are not legal consequences for this baffles me.

  20. John E on November 14th, 2024 12:37 am

    Extremely poor planning. Sheriffs office is supposed to be concerned about public safety and was absolutely no help. Completely useless and indifferent. What if an ambulance had to respond to Kingsfield road? Another example of how CSX is taking advantage of federal laws that were written 100 years ago. Contact your federal representative and complain. Crossings could have been phased or worked on during the weekends. CSX corporate cares only about avoiding paying overtime and to hell with the public.

  21. Steve on November 13th, 2024 11:20 pm

    No signs ahead of time. I get robocalls from the school district every week about stuff nobody cares much about and we can’t get local government to do anything about stuff like this? I mean, how brilliant must you be to close off the places that were closed at 7am Wednesday morning? This was actually planned this way?

    Nobody seems to care about the impact on emergency response, it sure didn’t look like the school transportation department knew about this or the buses wouldn’t have been so late.

    There seems to be quite a few people (at CSX and probably local government) who are way overpaid.

  22. Give me a break on November 13th, 2024 10:30 pm

    CSX should be a better neighbor. I understand that they are bound by strict rules and hopefully they are being proactive to minimize the risk of a failure (derailment).

    There’s no excuse for shutting off half the county all at once. A rolling style repair would have helped manage the ridiculous traffic snarls today, which were compounded by the I-10 work. My 38 minute commute ended at 105 minutes this morning. 29 was a parking lot to Kingsfield, the interstate was backed up to Pine Forest, and every surface road was flooded with people doing u turns and exhibiting angry driving.

    It can be done, but my guess is CSX said “buzz off” and they’ll get away with it.

  23. Christian on November 13th, 2024 9:34 pm

    I wish CSX had closed the crossings one at a time. 10 mile was closed and there were no workers there. They cut north pensacola practically in half. Maintenance is good and necessary, but I feel this was poor planning and poor implementation. CSX is too big to care what we think, but I will be sending a complaint to escambia county board.

  24. TDG on November 13th, 2024 8:42 pm

    Escambia County School District via Brown Barge MS sent out information several times last week and this week as a reminder of the closing of Hancock Ln. The information was available.

  25. JLSeale on November 13th, 2024 8:06 pm

    No matter how mad you get
    or what you say…..
    CSX is going to do what they
    want…..there is NO body to
    stop them……
    I agree, more sign warning
    about the closer should have
    been posted……But, CSX is
    cutting cost and warning sign
    cost money………..

  26. Rick Frye on November 13th, 2024 7:56 pm

    This is incredibly poor planning and execution of work needed. Whoever is responsible for this debacle shouldn’t make any more critical decisions effecting the public. Many people didn’t hear anything about this and got caught missing doctors appointments and being late for work. Awful and a shameful display of authority

  27. Lou on November 13th, 2024 7:51 pm

    Driving today was insane. Complete poor planning . How can you blockade half the county by ill preparing.

  28. Kevin on November 13th, 2024 7:25 pm

    I lived in Amarillo, Texas for years. They forced the railroad to put an overpass on Amarillo Blvd., and when they scheduled maintenance to the tracks around town, it had to be done at night, or low peak times. It wasn’t until the people stood up to the commissioners , and leaders that they got results. NO EMERGENCY VEHICLE COULD HAVE GOTTEN ANYWHERE THIS MORNING!!!

  29. Ty on November 13th, 2024 7:10 pm

    Do yall plan on paying all of us back for all the hours of work that was missed? Its not hard to notify people before hand in this thing called a digital world.

  30. DRH on November 13th, 2024 7:03 pm

    What an absolute nightmare of incompetence. Piss poor planning, what usually is a 5 minute drive turned into a 2 hour long wild goose chase. Also the fact that there was no notice or signs for detours led me to multiple dead ends. No notice or anything.

  31. Ty on November 13th, 2024 7:03 pm

    Thanks for no heads up and making me 2 hours late for work. Lets just close off every road without any proper guidance so people can constantly be turning around looking for a way out. Great planning guys

  32. Cass on November 13th, 2024 6:47 pm

    Wow! What a headache! No forewarning or signs for detour or plans for work to be seen! I live on Johnson and people are literally so confused on where to go or how to get around the work, it’s a huge mess! Terrible execution with no courtesy to the public.

  33. Makes no sense on November 13th, 2024 6:39 pm

    Why on heavenly earth would you close Kingsfield, Old Chemstrand and Archer at the same time? What a bunch of bafoons. Heaven forbid someone has a medical/fire/ police emergency and can’t get help because of the poor planning. Should be a lawyers dream case!!!

  34. Stephen on November 13th, 2024 6:24 pm

    For the ones complaining about not being notified.

    1) NorthEscambia posted a story about the work on November 9th and has provided regular updates in the days since.

    2) NewsRadio 92.3 as well as their morning host, Andrew McKay has provided regular updates for the last several days.

    3) Cat County 98.7 has provided updates

    I have also seen reports other places as well.

    Which leaves me with this question….

    Would you rather be inconvenienced for a day due to the repairs or be delayed days and possibly a week or more due to a derailment because the work wasn’t done?

    The fact is, CSX could have knocked on your doors individually and told you face to face and some of you would still complain that you weren’t notified.

    It’s time to grow up and learn how to adapt and overcome.

  35. Mike Jones on November 13th, 2024 6:21 pm

    This crazy!!! How dare they try to improve railroad crossings. It’s so absurd that we have these first world problems. This should’ve been a national holiday week. Everyone should’ve been able to stay home from work and school so we didn’t have to deal with this nonsense. I’m ENRAGGGGEEEEEDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

  36. Kaiser Sosay on November 13th, 2024 6:11 pm

    Would not have been too bad if they had done one at a time , I know it’s slower but it be cool not to go to Gonzalez to go around all this.

  37. Aubrey Holley on November 13th, 2024 5:52 pm

    this is insane, I live on Chemstrand and it has been impossiblimpossible to even get out of my driveway
    had to take a friend to rehab yesterday, he was an hour and a half late. Csx totally screwed up. THANKS A LOT CSX. Your planners and schelders should be fired!

  38. Amanda on November 13th, 2024 5:38 pm

    This was an absolute disaster. Why not do this the week of Thanksgiving or over the summer when at least schools aren’t impacted?! The only road to get to my daughter’s school had a big barricade that everyone had to someone squeeze by after sitting in standstill traffic on Chemstrand Rd. Horrible horrible.

  39. Summer on November 13th, 2024 5:08 pm

    Is there any way to find out when/if the one on Muscogee/29 and 95 A N will be done? I have to replan my whole route and won’t have time by the time I get to that point and have to turn around

  40. Delayna on November 13th, 2024 4:10 pm

    Kinda insane to have all the roads closed for miles and have no detour signs at all… Apple Maps isn’t updating and I have spent 1 hour trying to get to work

  41. Kay Blanchard on November 13th, 2024 4:04 pm

    This was very poor planning for traffic flows. When you have all major intersections closed at one time there is nowhere to go but sit in traffic. Took me over an hour to make my drive to my office which is usually a 10 minute trip.

  42. Jimbo on November 13th, 2024 3:37 pm

    This was one of the worst executed plans that I have ever seen! No advance notice to citizens, no signs or warnings. This morning they closed both 9 mile and 10 mile road and traffic was backed up for miles. It took me over an hour to get to work heading to the south end of town when it usually takes 15 minutes. If any of our politicians approved this, they should be fired.

  43. Em on November 13th, 2024 2:54 pm

    Extremely poor planning by CSX and, I assume, the county with no regard for the amount of disruption it would cause to local residents. Closing every crossing for miles simultaneously and forcing highway traffic to find their own way down two-lane side streets with no warning is insane.

  44. J on November 13th, 2024 2:23 pm

    “Detour signs and advance road closing notices would have been courteous to the residents in the area. This project was extremely poor planning by CSX.”

    No kidding! and maybe not do every every crossing for miles at once! I wonder how How much that cost in lost time this morning alone. That should be illegal to disrupt traffic that bad. What about LE and EMS?

  45. Ray on November 13th, 2024 2:17 pm

    This was extremely poor planning. Teachers, students etc were late for school and work. I mean WTH ! This needs to be address by the County Commission. This can’t be the best solution

  46. Blue on November 13th, 2024 2:02 pm

    Horribly executed plan by CSX. The process should’ve been to close every other crossing, not every crossing in an area. To get from 1 business on Olive Road on the west side of the tracks to another business on 9 Mile east of the tracks I had to go out to 29, get onto I-10, exit at Davis, then head north up University, then west on 9 Mile. It was the fastest route, but still took 30 minutes. Going up Palafox or 29 to 9 Mile would’ve taken much longer according to Google Maps. The manner in which this is being done is not well thought out at all.

  47. Bill Turner on November 13th, 2024 1:56 pm

    Prior notice would have been courteous! How hard would it be to place a sign saying ” road will be closed on some date? So alternate plans could be made. Thanks for being a good neighbor CSX.

  48. Mike L on November 13th, 2024 1:29 pm

    Terrible planning. It took me an extra hour to detour down to Johnson Av.

  49. Carol Van Dresar on November 13th, 2024 12:58 pm

    Detour signs and advance road closing notices would have been courteous to the residents in the area. This project was extremely poor planning by CSX.

  50. Liz on November 13th, 2024 11:52 am

    Absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible. They have disrupted the entire city to do maintenance during the week when people are going to work and school. This should be done during the over nights or on a weekend. They have hurt businesses too since going to anyone on the other side of the tracks from you is impossible to get to.

  51. Brian on November 13th, 2024 5:56 am

    Closing 9 Mile during the day is crazy. Yesterday was bad enough with smaller roads closed all the way to Brent Ln. Also.the road that leads to 3 schools?!





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